Listen to Your Heart
by DieselFire
Summary: Takes place where Vince's role in the movie ends. Someone from his past returns to the Team's life, bringing Vince a second chance with a girl he lost.
1. Who Knew

Chapter One: Who Knew

I was on my way out of the hospital when I was paged for an incoming trauma patient and had to meet the chopper on the roof moments before the bird landed.

"What the hell happened to this guy?" I asked the EMT—Ricky—as the elevator descended to the ER floor.

"He wouldn't say; who knows, gorgeous, maybe you can persuade him to tell ya." I rolled my eyes at his flirtation.

"Did you get a _last name_, Ricky?" he nodded.

"Vincent Papaleo, 25, some sort of accident in the field; deep lacerations to the upper left arm; refused painkillers, kept on about some Letty cat."

"I swear I know that name from somewhere." I shrugged, "She can't be too far behind this guy."

"What makes you think Letty's a chick?"

"Just a hunch…I knew a girl by that name when I was younger." The elevator doors opened. "I got it from here, Rick."

"Later, De." As I wheeled him into the suture room, he began to come around.

"I done died and gone to heaven." I laughed

"If this is heaven, I must be in the wrong place. You're at Los Angeles County General, Vincent."

"I hate that name. It's Vince." I nodded as I pulled on the field sutures. "Ow! Damnit, Doc that shit hurts!"

"Sorry…the anesthetic they gave you in the field must be wearing off. Pick your poison—local anesthetic or you can have a scrip later."

"I'll take the scrip." I laughed at him.

"Macho, Mr. Papaleo?" his eyes bugged when I used his last name.

"That's my dad, babe." I was about to start the sutures when I was paged _again._

"Dammit to hell! This is probably your knuckle-headed friends; I'll be back." At the desk I saw a thinner but equally tattooed guy supporting a shorter Latina.

"Hey! You know a macho guy who calls himself Vince?" he nodded. "Right this way and I'll fix all three of you up." I said taking Letty's other arm over my shoulder.

"What happened to her?" Leon looked at Vince, who nodded.

"She was in a car accident; her car flipped a couple of times." I nodded.

"I'm gonna get a nurse to draw some blood for a standard work up, then I'm gonna order a head CT, chest film and lower body XRAYS. I'll be back with the paperwork for you to fill out." I left the room and Leon let out a howl.

"Man you got a thing for the doctor!"

"Too bad since we're in Mexico as soon as we get out of here." Letty said as the nurse came in with me. "Holy fuckin' shit!"

"Nice to see you too, Letty." I retorted as the nurse stuck her. "So what's it been, Letty, five, ten years?"

"Since you bailed out for Princeton or you quit returning goddamn phone calls?" Letty snapped back at me.

"I am not going to have this argument in the middle of the 3rd straight shift I've worked!" I left the room, dictating orders to the nurse as she followed at my heels. Leon shot Letty a quizzical look.

"What the hell was that and where've you been hidin' her, man?!" Vince laughed and gave Letty an ornery look.

"That was Delilah Callahan; one of the only women who kept me busy enough _not_ to cheat." Vince said, sounding almost rueful. This only confused Leon even more.

X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

"So what happened? Aside from the Princeton thing, I mean?" Leon asked, taking a drag off his cigarette.

"Rich girl falls for boy from the wrong side of the tracks, basic _Romeo and Juliet _complex; it just didn't end in dual suicides." I replied sardonically. "I came home one year for Christmas, went by the garage to see Letty and the boys, and in walks Vince with his arm around some hooker-looking racer skank…went down hill pretty quick from there. After I quit answering when he called, RTS'd the mail he sent; I saw what Dom put Letty through and I knew I'd never have handled it as dignifiedly as she did." I stood up.

"Coyote ain't been laid in I don't know how long…been houndin' on Mia though she kicked him in the teeth when she let the cop sack her." I laughed loudly like I hadn't in years.

"I can see Dom's jugular bulgin' when he found out about that." My pager buzzed. "Oh joy; lab work's back for Ape Shit and Grease Monkey," He smirked, "You should hear some of the things that they used to call me." I shot back as we headed back into the hospital.

As we went back to the suture room, I flipped through the workup but stopped when I saw the hormone levels. This was about to get interesting.

"Okay, I got good news and I got bad news." I said looking around the room and settling my gaze on Letty. "For the most part, Ape Shit, your arm's getting infected so your white count's skyrocketing, other than that you should be just fine once we get you stitched up. So, you two, outside for a bit; I paged the nurse from earlier, Loretta, to meet you and get you cleaned up."

"Somebody know something we don't?"

"OUT; NOW! Or I'll get an intern to give both your sorry asses full RECTAL EXAMS!" Both men bolted out of the room as I turned the lock and closed the blinds.

"Must be nice to have that kind of power."

"There something you want to tell me, Letty?" I asked, despite the blank look on her face. "No? Okay, slide down on the table, sp…"

"You finish that sentence and I disown your sorry ass!"

"Funny, I thought you did that when I got into Princeton." I answered, flipping to the hormone level chart and handing it to her.

"Sorry, I'm just a lowly mechanic, I don't speak medical."

"You had your bitch pill last month?" No answer. "What about this month?"

"HELL NO! Are you sayin' what I think you're saying?"

"Blood don't lie, Sister." She blanched. "You gonna take a hit of NOS and then haul ass outta LA for the next 7 months?" she sank back against the bed.

"We just got back into town from a major heist that got bombed. I don't even know where the hell Dom is but if I ever see that O'Conner bastard I'll kill him."

"I'm not gonna force this on you but if you want, you can go to my place a few blocks from here and get some sleep. We can decide where to go from here when I get home." Letty looked at me in question. "I bailed out on you once, I'm not going to do it again…to either of you."

An hour later, Letty set off, Vince and Leon in tow, for my apartment, which was coincidentally on the beach; an hour and a half later, I arrived at the beach house and was bombarded by Letty before I had my key in the door. 


	2. The Gang's All Here

CHAPTER TWO: The Gang's all Here

"You didn't tell me he was here!" Letty shrieked excitedly, sounding oddly giddy.

"Or that she had roomies!" Leon said, leaning against the wall beside Dixie nanoseconds before she stalked off, a scowl on her face.

"What's her deal?" he wondered aloud.

"She's not much for company unless she knows, trusts and likes you…don't take it personally." Leon gave a disgruntled snort.

"Don't look like the gang's all here, Dom. Where's Mother Goose?" Dom laughed.

"Actually, I'm not sure." His cell rang as he answered. "Mia, head out to Long Beach. I'll tell you why when you get here." I nodded and went to talk to Leon.

"It's not like she hates you; hasn't exactly had the best of luck in terms of men, if you get what I mean."

"I'ma go talk to her."

"Hope you don't mind getting splattered with paint, then Leon," I said, wandering out of the den and onto the veranda, where she saw Letty sitting on the beach.

"You alright, Letty?" She shrugged her response; she'd been hard enough to read when we were kids and now her eyes and face were emptier than I had ever remembered seeing them. "Had, uh, you two talked about this kinda thing?" Letty scoffed at me.

"Talked, yeah, but nothing was really said." I sat down beside her, burying my toes in the sand.

"For what it's worth, I double as an OB nurse when they're short-staffed; I'm certified but I prefer the ER." We heard the door on the porch slam and were soon joined by Mia.

"So you're a doctor, now, hmm?" she asked, sitting down beside Letty. I nodded.

"Mia's pre-med…gonna put the rest of this family to shame." Mia sucker-punched Letty.

"You thought about where you want to do your internship?" she shrugged and I nodded.

"I'm thinking about the ER, or even surgery." I nodded.

"I'm impressed, despite being biased; I could get used to having family in the ER. I'm up for the attending position sometime soon."

"MIA! Come get this meal goin'!" we laughed as she begrudgingly trudged back to the house. Letty and I followed soon after and I soon found myself perched on the back of the couch, watching Leon and Vince duke it out on Grand Theft Auto. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Letty and Dom talking quietly as they reclined together in a leather La-Z-boy and found myself slightly envious of them, and even more so angry at Vince.

'That could have been us,' I thought to myself as I wandered back out onto the veranda that surrounded the perimeter of the deck. 


	3. The Shadow Proves the Sunshine

CHAPTER THREE: The Shadow Proves the Sunshine

I'd dozed off only to be yanked back by a wide-awake Dixie, who looked none too happy.

"If that Leon creep hits on me again, I'ma take a blowtorch to his car…" I smirked at her seriousness.

"Dix, he likes you. A nice change from the Neanderthals you normally attract. Just play along, you might surprise yourself with what happens."

"'Lilah, he's a mechanic for god's sakes!" Dixie looked as though I'd grown a second head.

"Okay, how's this, if you haven't fallen for him by the end of two weeks, I'll give you that new set of pastels you've been wanting." Her eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store.

"Deal."  
Dixie retreated into the house and was replaced by Vince.

"You're gonna win that bet."

"This from the guy who couldn't keep his hands to himself till Christmas break the year I broke up with you?" I shot back. He flinched internally, even if I couldn't see it I knew I'd struck a nerve.

"Delilah, I've told you a million times, that girl was Jachael, Edwin's sister." I rolled my eyes

"Six years and you're still going with that sad-ass excuse?"

"Ask _anybody_. Even Letty knew that was Jachael."

"Is that why I got your voice mail every time I tried to call you that entire week?" the muscles in his arm flexed. He wanted—no, needed—to hit something—_hard_. What he did instead surprised me. He took my face in his hands and then he kissed me. What he did instead surprised me. He took my face in his hands and then he kissed me; but it was different from the way it had been before; it was gentle, tentative, almost needy, no longer demanding, possessive and invasive. I pulled away to look at him.

"Vince, what happened to you? Where's the man I fell in love with; the one who made me feel tings that I'd never felt before and haven't felt since then?" He wasn't listening to me; he had his attention focused solely on my neck. "Vincent." A guttural growl was my response.

"What really happened to land you at the ER?" I asked.

"I love you, Delilah." He said, burying his face and hand in my hair. "I've missed you." He kissed me again before speaking. "We're goin' to Mexico City in a few days." I cut him off before he could continue—there was no telling how much he'd already had to drink.

"You need to go to bed, Vince; you're drunk and you don't know what you're saying."

"Only if you'll come with me, 'Lilah." He leaned even closer to my ear. "'M not drunk, baby." I cursed myself silently for encouraging him.

"I'll stay with you but if you try anything, so help me."  
The next morning I woke to an eerie silence. In the kitchen I sat at the table with a mug of green tea in hand and a mug of coffee across the table; moments later, Dom entered barely awake.

"You never were one to sleep past twilight." I heard a low rumbling in place of a response. "Something is going on that you and your friends are either trying to hide or are leaving for me to find on my own. Save my time and tell me what the hell's going on. Your team doesn't surface in a hospital unless one of you has gone and done something stupid." Dom matched me eye for eye, yet his face remained unreadable.

"You look well, De."

"I've done pretty well; not too happy with the consequences of going to a fuckin' Ivy League school across the goddamn country…" I answered, not bothering to look at him.

"How long have you been back in LA?"

"About 3 ½ years; I got tired of NYU after my fellowship; haven't been to a decent street race since Danica—she's the one who was wearing the Anarchy t-shirt last night—quit draggin' professionally."

"Nothin' beats the rush from NOS and street racing." I nodded.

"If you're hiding out in my beach house, where you gonna go if somebody like Johnny Tran comes lookin' for you? You can't spend your life runnin', Dom."

"We have connections…in Mexico City." It took all the control I had not to slap him in the back of the head but then I realised something that made me even madder—Letty still hadn't told him.

"Excuse me, yeah? Where'd you two sleep last night?"

"Guest room at the end of the hall."

"I thought I told you to tell Dom about you-know-what ASAP?" I said when Letty rolled over in her bed.

"_I will_, Delilah…don't get yourself all hot an' bothered on my account."

"You do know that he's gonna drag all of you to Mexico City as soon as Johnny gets word that you're here, right? That means he'll kill Dixie, Danica, _and _me when he finds out that I'm hiding you here." I was trying to get into her head but it wasn't going very well. "You put my family in danger and I'll lead Johnny straight to you. _Tell Dom._"

I left the room to find Vince emerging from mine and found that I was falling for him all over again. I turned around and headed up the stairs to Dixie's room. I knocked twice as a precautionary measure and found that she was still in her bed.

"Dixie, wake up. Wouldn't want you to get ambushed in bed by Leon." She bolted upright. "Didn't think so; get dressed, company's still here." She cursed under her breath as the door closed.

In the kitchen, the boys were joking and talking—it was almost like being in the twilight zone. Letty shoved past me as she shuffled into the kitchen, reaching first for the OJ and then for the coffee pot. I cleared my throat, trying to be discreet, though it only attracted the attention of both Leon and Vince.

"You alright, De?" I nodded and passed letty, taking the coffee from her as I went. I was followed by Vince.

"You're actin' weird, Callahan. Really, really weird. What gives, babe?"

"Ain't my place to say, V. if you wanna know, ask Lett...it's her business, I'm just the doctor that called her out on it. What she does from there is none of my business, no matter who the consequences screw over. You…weren't drunk, were you? Last night, I mean."

"Nope."

"Sorry." I sounded sheepish and I knew it.

"So where does that leave us?" I laughed.

"I knew that was coming," I said, "and I don't know right now."

"We're leaving for Mexico City in a couple of days…"

"Dom said you were only going to go if Johnny came after you guys.."

"He's been promisin' all of us a nice long vacation—some place like Cancun—for a long time."

"And you're tellin' me this, why, exactly?"

"You and your friends are comin' with us."

"Now comes the catch, right?"

"No catch… Johnny will show up here eventually and when he _does_, you girls aren't going to be here." 


	4. Coffee, Tea, or Me

Chapter Four: Coffee, Tea, or Me

"I don't like your implication, Vincent."

"What implication?"

"That I would narc you and your friends—my old friends—out to Johnny Tran, whom I have very little respect for in the first place."

"Okay, point taken…what about your friends?"

"They'll keep quiet if I tell them to." Vince nodded. "So, spread the word to start packing?"

"Just the basics: clothes, meds, food so we don't have to make too many unnecessary stops," V said, nodding. "It'll be a two or three day drive, we'll have to split up, take different border exits; meet up in Tijuana."

"There's got to be another way. If we split, we double the risk of getting caught; if we pair up, it cuts the number of cars to 4."

"We can't leave Mia here."

"She's pre-med; that's hard enough as it is. She'd never make it out alive if she came with us."

"Johnny would find her in a heartbeat if she stayed. Why can't you cover it?" I looked at him as though he were insane.

"Me? Vince, I'm a doctor, not a med school professor!"

"It sounds easy enough…get the work from her professors and you can teach her what she needs to know."

"We're all going to have to discuss this before anything…" I stopped midsentence. "You go round up your people, I'll get mine and we'll meet in the basement. It will explain everything."

By the time we were all in the basement, the room was buzzing with conversation.

"Okay, I'm sure we're all dyin to know why we're in the basement. I've been actin' a lil bit weird the past day or so and what I'm about to say is gonna explain most of it. I'm sorry if anyone's offended by it but this has to be done." I took a deep breath and moved to continue when Letty cut me off.

"She's about to say I'm pregnant. But I don't want that to change our plans for going to Mexico." I glared at her.

"You couldn't do that without me provoking it?" she shrugged as Dom pulled her to him and whispered something in her ear. "Now will someone please tell me what the hell happened yesterday when the whole Motley Crüe landed in my hospital?"

"It was my fault, Del." Dom spoke up from where he was now standing with Letty by his side. My eyes rolled at the irony of his words.

"I swear if you even mention Johnny Tran, I'm going to knock your teeth out."

"We started hijacking rigs…V jumped from the car, knocked out the driver and then we looted the cargo and left the truck out in the middle of the desert."

"Sounds like another one of your half-baked schemes; like it went bad; the scrapes on Letty's face look like her car flipped or something. I'm still undecided about the wounds Vince has."

"Day-um."

"How'd I do, Toretto?"

"Three for three."

"That's gonna cost you four large. Two from you, Toretto, for sheer stupidity in that idea; one for Letty for makin' me force her to say she was pregnant; and one from Vince for not talkin' you out of a suicidal stunt like that in the first place." If looks could kill, Vincent Papaleo would have been a dead man right then and there.

"Is that why you called us down here?" Leon asked, as I noticed for the first time that morning that Dixie was standing between his legs and leaning against his chest.

"No, actually, I think that if the five of you are going to go running off to Mexico like a couple o' mangy dogs with your tails between your legs, we deserve to know why!" I watched Dixie's eyes widen in horror at what I'd just said. I realised that he hadn't told her yet as she fought her way free from his grip, finding solace in Danica's arms on the other side of the room.

"Johnny's got his panties in a twist cause Jesse lost the Jetta to him in a race for slips; which then started a brawl in the desert. That's how Jesse died." I fell silent, which was probably a shock for most of the people in the basement at the time.

"I have an idea for where we all can go and stay in Mexico." I was met with expressions questioning my sanity. "My grandfather left his ranch near Tijuana to me when he died. The place is huge—3 floors, 3 million square feet; almost five miles on each side."

"Sound wicked." Letty responded, though she was thinking out loud. Dom eyed me suspiciously.

"What's the catch, Callahan?"

"Why do you always have to think there's a catch to it whenever someone does something nice for us?" Letty snapped at him.

"Letty. Chill." I could tell that I was going to have to have a nice long chat with her about the whole pregnancy thing. "Vince, take her upstairs. I need a word in private with Dominic."

As the room emptied, I could feel the tension between Dom and Letty as if it were my own.

"You alright?" I asked, gently placing my hand on his arm. He pulled away. "Dominic, she didn't know about it before the heist."

"How far?"

"About two, two and a half months; not enough to be able to feel anything other than nausea. There's almost no way she could have known before hand."

"That's why you took the coffee from her this morning?" I nodded and turned to leave when he continued. "Thank you." I nodded and continued up the stairs into the house. I heard screaming that could only be Danica, whom I found in the kitchen ripping into Jesse for touching her car.

"Dani, be nice or I'll triple your share of the rent money." The remand silenced her almost immediately.

"Keep this idiot away from my car and I'll be more than happy to oblige." She snapped, leaving the room.

"You keep it up and I'll leave you here when we go to Mexico and you can pay the entire rent by yourself." I called after her before I was pulled out into the hallway, finding myself pinned to the wall by Vince.

I opened my mouth to speak at the same time he chose to kiss me in a way that turned my brain to mush and nearly made my knees buckle.

"What are we doing, V?" I asked, pulling away from him as he moved along my neck while his hands slid under my scrub top.

Upstairs, Dixie and Leon were having problems of their own in epic proportions.

"So you were just going to take off for Mexico and not even tell me? You manipulated me, made me fall for you, just so you could turn around and leave?" Dixie demanded, refusing to look Leon in the eye.

"I was gonna tell you, aight? Your land lady beat me to it." Leon answered. He moved towards her and she sidestepped him and went around him.

"Don't play games with me, Leon. I know guys like you. I know how this stupid-ass game ends! You go on your merry-ass way and leave me with a broken heart! I don't want that kind of life!"

"Dixie-"

"Leave."

"Dix-"

"NOW! Leave!""  
Leon left Dixie's room in a huff and let the door slam behind him when he stormed past Vince and I with his car keys in hand.

"You take Leon and I'll handle Dixie." V shrugged as I went into the house.

"Dixie, open up. I heard the lock turn and chanced trying the door. "Dix, what's going on?"

"If he's leavin', I want him out of my house!" Dix sobbed, burying her face in my shoulder.

"Dixie, did you even give him a chance to explain it?" she just cried harder when I asked this. "Honey, you gotta at least talk to him. if you care about him, you'll have to sooner or later. When they leave for Mexico, we're going with them."

"I don't want to stay in the same house as him. I don't care if we're on separate ends of the house, Delilah. It's me or him. take your pick."

"Get some sleep, Dixie."  
I left Dixie to her vices and went downstairs, grabbing a corona before heading back out onto the veranda.

"Is it all drama like this twenty-four/seven?" Letty asked from behind me.

"Only when it involves Dixie. I swear, she gives more people whiplash than a month of MVAs." I said, pinching the bridge of my nose. "I cannot afford to bail her outta jail for indecent exposure a fourth time." I took a swig from the bottle as Vince's car pulled up.

"What's the deal with you two, girl?" V walked up the porch and into the house, stopping only briefly to glance back at me, our eyes making contact for a few seconds.

"That answer your question, Let? Awkward as hell and feels like my heart's been ripped out—again. He broke me once, I guess I'm scared he'll do it again."

"Do you _know_ how many times Dominic cheated on me? Hundreds! We worked it out!" I looked at her like she'd grown a third head.

"I hope this is your hormones talkin'…you scarin' me, Letty.

"Go talk to him 'fore you get your heart broken again."

"Letty, that's not funny."

"Then go get laid!" I turned three shades of red.

"Talk to your baby…read to them, play music for 'em. The more you do, the better the development of your baby." I said, turning to the door. "I can show you sometime if you like." 


	5. Like Coronas

4

Chapter Five: Like Coronas

I climbed the stairs leading to Vince's room two at a time despite my nerves and ironically I wasted no time opening his bedroom door.

"Your girl Dixie has a lot of nerve throwin' Leon out like that, Delilah." Vince said, not bothering to put down the weight in his hand.

"From what I've heard from Dixie, she was trying to beat him to the punch by stopping things before they got too far. We all know how good _you _are at breaking up with people."

"You think you're the only person who's ever had their heart broken? FUCK THAT, Delilah; you don't want us here? We'll go."

"Vince, please. If you ever loved me you know I'm just trying to protect Dixie. I am not condoning what went on, Leon seems like a good guy."

"He's taking the day to cool off, should be back sometime tonight." He had calmed down considerably. The coarseness of his hands set my skin on fire when he took my face in his hands. He kissed me, softly but then it escalated to something more, and before I could stop myself, I'd wrapped my legs around his waist, craving as much physical contact as I could get.

"What are we doing, Vince?"

"I don't know about you, but I'm claiming what's mine…permanently." I froze. Its funny how one little word could kill the mood in an instant.

"Don't do this to me, V; I've got too much going on right now to even begin to consider planning anyone's wedding, much less my own!"

"Then let Mia do it…she lives for that kind of thing anyway." I dropped the shoe I had in my hand and looked at him incredulously.

"She's in Medical School, Vincent. That's hard enough without you and the guys running off to Santa Fe, which is like, 2000 miles from here, not to mention all the time and energy Letty's gonna need since she's pregnant…" Vince pulled me back to the bed and into his lap.

"That's why you're coming with us to the old man's place."

"Vince, the only way I'm gonna be able to make damn sure that Letty gets what she needs is if I keep working at the hospital," I felt his thumbs rubbing small, slow sensual circles just below the hairline on my neck.

"What about your grandma?" I could feel the heat from his breath on my ear as he spoke.

"She lives in Manhattan and the account is so secure that they'll only let $300 be transferred at a time." I said against his lips, laughing softly. He caught my lips with his when I moved to pull away.

"Then I guess you're gonna have to figure out how much we're gonna need." I sat up, though he kept me firmly in his lap.

"the ultrasound will be a few hundred grand easily, the vitamins wont be too costly but I'll need homebirth supplies 'cause there's no way in hell that baby is being born in a Mexican hospital. That'll run around $10-$15G." I couldn't even begin to conceive why I was considering attempting this insanity.

"Lil, you're forgetting about wedding costs." He was still on about this idea of a wedding?!

"Vincent, there is no way in hell any sane person can plan a wedding in under thirty days, even if it's done on Callahan money." His eyes lit up.

"Is that a yes, then?" I was silent for minute, considering my options and weighing their consequences.

"Do I have to answer now?" Vince looked wounded—moreso than I could remember seeing him before. "Vince, I'm kidding!" the words had barely left my mouth before I was pinned beneath him, feeling like I was in high school again, in the backseat of Vince's car.

We didn't see the rest of the household until the next day when we woke to the smell of Mia's cooking. When we entered the kitchen, we got dirty looks from Dom and a glare from Leon, which shifted to Dixie before he left the room.

"Dix, I'ma tell you like Letty told me: GO GET LAID!" She stormed out of the kitchen muttering indignantly under her breath with Danica hot on her heels, Mia in tow. "What crawled up yours, Toretto? Or is it that Letty ain't givin' it up since she found out she was pregnant?" I saw him tense and realised I'd struck a nerve. "You two can do it whenever you want until it's not comfortable for her." Dom groaned in slight mortification.

"I cannot believe I'm talking about my sex life with you, Callahan."

"You think _this_," I gestured between us, "Is awkward? Try givin' the sex talk to a room full of high-school kids knowing I did exactly what I know I did at their age!"

"D'you think Mia will make a good doctor, De?" he asked suddenly.

"I don't know, but I can definitely understand why you'd want her to be."

Upstairs, Dixie and Leon were preparing for round two.

"You owe me an apology, Dix." She tensed but didn't stop moving, moving clothes from the bed to the closet and selective drawers of the bureau.

"The only thing I owe you is a castration, Mr. Gubitosi. In fact, you're lucky you can still stand upright." She still hadn't met his gaze, though she certainly felt it on her.

"You don't mean that, Dixie." She threw one of her shoes at him, which he caught. "Would it have changed anything if you'd known I was leaving again in a few days when I started hittin' on you?" she sighed a frustrated sigh.

"Why do you care, anyway? From what Delilah's told me about your friends, you go through women like coronas!"

Down the hall, I was in my room going through boxes of books on alternative medicine that I'd bought but never bothered to crack the covers on. On top of that, I had a Nirvana vinyl record playing on an ancient LP.

"What are you looking for?" glancing over my shoulder I saw mia entering my bedroom.

"Something that just might salvage your brother's relationship wit Letty." Mia laughed, loudly.

"Doing that would mean he got laid…which would require Letty actually letting him touch her." She said, kneeling on the floor beside me.

"In that case, I know just the thing that'll get her as hot and bothered as she's got him." Mia looked unsure what to think. "I'll show you when I find it."

4


	6. Girl Talk

3

Chapter Six: Girl Talk  
An hour later, I'd found the book and took it to Dom.

"I think I've found something that will fix this rut you and Letty have gotten yourselves into." I put the book on the table and showed him what I meant. "You've been using massages as a cover to get laid, yeah? So what you're gonna do is use it to her advantage; to make her feel better. Trust me Dom, I've seen what massage therapy does for pregnant women."

"Lemme look this over and I'll get back to you. Go talk to Letty or somethin', huh?" he sounded almost cowardly.

"Are you that scared that what I'm suggesting just might save your relationship with Letty?" I asked, leaving him with the book and set off in search of Letty while trying not to get snatched up by Vince.

"Hey. How's the nausea?" I asked, sitting down beside her. She shrugged slightly before responding.

"Remind me to have that dawg neutered before I let him touch me again." I cringed inside, slightly sympathetic towards Dom.

"That bad, eh? I would have thought there'd be a dozen mini-Dom's running around by now from the way you two were all over each other before I left for Princeton." She glared at me, rolled her eyes and laughed.

"It got complicated, Lil." The answer alone spoke volumes of what I'd missed when I left for medical school.

"If you like, I can dig up some herbs and whip up a nausea fix that'll make it subside." I found myself in a bear-like Letty hug.

"It would be nice to enjoy Mia's cooking and not have to go running for the can every time I swallow," she said, her grip loosening slightly.

"I can't guarantee anything but it should settle your stomach and make lil Dominic give you some rest."

"He's not that bad, Delilah." She said, surprisingly defensive of Dominic despite their tumultuous history.

"I said the same thing about V back in high school, 'member? Look where that got me—a decade of freezing my ass off on the other side of the goddamn country." Our eyes locked and I knew no amount of bullshit I tried to throw at her, she'd be able to see right through me.

"You're telling me that someone as hella smart as Mia couldn't get a match somewhere closer to Los Angeles?" In that instant, my feet became a thousand times more interesting than the sudden turn in direction my chat with Letty was suddenly taking.

"I couldn't afford to fly back here for my residency; even then there's no way to say that it would have been anywhere near echo park." Letty glared at me with that "save-the-bullshit-excuses" look in her eyes.

"You didn't come back because you didn't want to see Vince." She said matter-of-factly.

"Okay, Miss I'll-Never-Get-Married-Or-Have-Kids."

"Am I ever gonna feel this kid move?" Letty asked distractedly.

"You're only about a month along, maybe two, max. Right now you're not even showing yet." She looked at me like I was speaking pig Latin. "Kid's not even the size of a penny yet. If I had an ultrasound, the only thing you'd see would be a little amoeba-looking thing and the heartbeat." Her eyes had softened, glazed over by the fantasy of what her life would soon enough be like.

"You sound like you're talkin from personal experience." My silence nearly answered for me.

"Nah, not necessarily; you'd be surprised how many teenage girls came through the clinics I worked in; how many times I've thought to myself how that could be you or even Mia, for God's sake."

I could see that she was itching to ask something but didn't know how.

"Whatever you want to ask, just ask, Letty. No secrets here, remember?"

"You sent all of them—the letters, all of it—back, unopened. Why?" I sighed and my shoulders sank.

"I didn't want to hear about whoever it was that he'd started hooking up with after I stopped coming home; as a result I threw myself into my work, tried not to think about any of it and hoped for the best."

"It _was_ Jachael that he came home with that night, but nothing happened between them." I couldn't believe I was hearing this from Letty of all people. I'd spent countless nights—more so than I had with Mia—at the beach after she'd caught him in the act of infidelity back in high school.

"Why are you telling me this, Letty? We both know Vince and Dominic are the same way when it comes to women." I asked, shifting to sit on my knees. Letty shrugged, leaning back to prop her self up on her elbows.

"Because Dom sees you as an equal and he actually listens to you."

3


	7. The Whole Damn Enchilada

Chapter Seven:

The next morning, we started packing. Mia started in the kitchen, wrapping and boxing dishes.

Dixie and Leon seemed to have temporarily resolved their differences, boxing the contents of her bedroom. Danica was in the yard with Jesse, checking the cars before the drive to Rosarito; Dom and Vince were changing oil. Meanwhile, Letty and I were down in the wine cellar I'd converted into an herb pharmacy.

"How many herbs do you _have_ down here, De?" Letty asked as I flipped the light switch, illuminating the cellar.

"Hundreds, maybe even thousands; I stopped counting after a while." I said, opening the lid to one of the chests.

"You got anything down here for nausea?" Letty asked leaning against the doorframe.

"Peppermint's good for nausea; works well with ginger and catnip." She looked at me like I was crazy.

"What the f—"

"Watch your tongue…just because you're less than two months pregnant doesn't mean that baby can't hear every word you say," I laughed as I scolded her, but cringed as I realised I sounded more like my mother than I ever intended. "Besides, I didn't mean catnip like you'd give a cat. It's an herb. I can brew peppermint teas that should have you feeling better in no time." She nodded her consent as she moved to sit down on the steps of the cellar while I continued rooting around in the numerous cases of herbs. Then I found it. Capsules of peppermint powder I'd made for some of the illegals in a free clinic I volunteered at.

"I found some capsules of peppermint powder. If you take three you ought to feel alright by dinner time." She stood and held out her hand.

Upstairs in Dixie's room, leon was scoring significant redemption points. At present they were dead-even in the current round of tonsil-hockey. He pulled away, slowly making his way down her neck.

"You trust me, Dixie?" He asked right about the time his thumbs grazed the inside of Dixie's thighs.

"If I say yes, you gonna stop teasing me and start fucking me?" she purred into his ear, taking his hand and emphasizing her point while unzipping his fly and drawing a groan mixed of pain and lust.

"Dixie…"

"You're a mechanic; good with your hands, right?" leon groaned raggedly as Dixie dragged a nail against his sac, somehow managing a nod. "Then use them; and I'll get you off like you've never gotten off _in your life._"

Down on the beach, Danica was on the verge of clocking Jesse with a creeper.

"Do you not know anything other than engines and design analysis?!' she demanded, causing dom and Vince to snicker in the background.

"You're gonna regret that when you have to rip an engine block apart and Letty's too damn big to get to it." This comment caused Danica to drop the tool in her hand and land a right hook on Jesse's left cheek, causing him to end up on his proverbial ass, which was right around the same time Jesse managed to engage her in a full-on, tongue-lashing kiss.

She yanked away from him, giving him a murderous look before pinning him to the driver's side door, again in a smoldering, mind-numbing kiss; the two hardly hearing Dom and Vince shouting something about detailing a car with the cover on before stalking off towards the house.

In the kitchen, Mia stood over a cardboard box, scrawling a label across all four sides of various boxes. She capped the offensive Sharpie™ as Letty and I emerged from the herb cellar.

"Mia, jesus, what died up here?" Letty groaned as she sat down at the kitchen table.

"Just open a few windows; she'll be fine," I interjected to Mia, giving Letty a warning look before turning back to Mia. "Brew her a cup of peppermint tea and make sure she drinks _all _of it." I turned to leave at the exact moment that Vince and Dom came back into the house. Dom sat down beside Letty.

"Cars are ready for driving whenever we get everything packed." Dom said, pulling Letty into his lap.

"I think Jesse could care less where he's at, long as that Danica chick's suckin' face with him." I looked over at Vince, half-tempted to smack him in the back of the head.

"Bout time Jesse got himself a girl." Letty sighed, settling back against Dom's chest, her hands locked with his.

"Drink your tea if you wanna be able to eat tonight, Letty." I said, turning to leave.

The next day we—my two roommates and six people, four of whom I hadn't seen in nearly a decade and a half—were en route to some undecided beach town south of the border.

Danica and Jesse were in her garnet Mustang; Dixie was riding with Leon; Vince and Dom were in some hideous orange Supra, which left me driving the garnet T-Bird that Vince had spent an entire summer helping me fix and modify—with Letty riding shotgun and Mia in the backseat.

"I can't believe you still have this car!" Letty crowed. "You ever race it? I know you and V did the mods and shit but…"

"No, I never raced it. V kept trying to talk me into it but it just never happened." Letty slumped back into the seat, mumbling something in Spanish under her breath.

"You got something you wanna share with the class, there, Letty?"

"She's probly tired." Mia supplied as Letty shot her a murderous glare.

"She went to bed at, like, 8:30! How the hell could she possibly be tired?!"

"Because someone gave Dom an idea for this new 'massage'—"

"Like that's not code for something!" I had to give Mia credit; she wasn't nearly as stupid as people might have thought she was.

"Mia, shut up now or I'm gonna dropkick your ass at the border!"

"I wish you would! I shouldn't have to go running off every time my brother does something illegal and stupid!" by now I'd had more than enough of Mia's attitude.

"Letty, call Dom and tell him I need to have a word with him regarding his sister." We pulled over somewhere near San Diego and Dom looked anything but happy.

"Are you trying to get us all thrown in jail?" He demanded.

"Your _sister_ wants to go home." I stated simply.

"Fine, then Letty's riding with me."

"Oh great time to decide to play the caring boyfriend; I'm a big girl in case you hadn't noticed and I can take care of myself without your interference!" Letty snapped at Dom.

"Okay…so, Dom, you guys go on without us then detour to Tijuana till we catch up. I'm takin' Mia back to L.A., which should but me in Tijuana some time after sundown." I heard a car door slam and knew it wouldn't be long before Letty and Mia were at each other's throats. Dom was watching my car forlornly. "She'll be fine, Dominic. She's tougher than you give her credit for." I said, turning to go back to my car.

The drive back to Los Angeles was a quiet one; normally I was grateful for silence but now it only made me want to scream.

"So, you're not gonna tell me what's really got you in a rotten mood?"

"I'm just not in the mood to deal with Mia's shit today."

"So what's the deal with this Jesse kid?" Letty laughed.

"Jesse's Leon's little brother. They showed up one night and just never got around to leavin' again. They're like a set or somethin', man. One's never more than an hour away from the other. Boy has ADD like no other, though; but he's the best around for a killer nitrous system. What about Danica?

"Retired Pro Dragster. Bossy like Dom. That'll be one hella show."

"You're kidding?!" I shook my head as Letty stared at me in awe. "And the red head? Dixie somethin' or other?"

"Dixie's old money; somewhere in the southeast…not really sure where." I had to laugh. Dixie might have been old money but I knew her well enough to know that she wouldn't marry a guy if she had the slightest clue he was in it simply for the money, even if it meant she died alone.

"And what about you, Doc? You got nothin' to tell dear old Letty after hidin' out in Jersey and the Big Apple all this time?" I swear she almost sounded hurt.

"I tell you what: you can ask whatever the hell you want to…_after_ you tell me what's got your thong in a twist." She groaned and stared out the window of the car.

"He did it this morning."

"Did what, Letty?"

"Proposed. I was half a sleep when he said it the first time."

"So what's the big deal? I thought this was what you wanted, Letty." I didn't understand what was going on. "I mean, you've been together eight years. If—"

"That's not the problem."

"Then what is it?"

"I'm not going to spend the rest of my life runnin' 'cause of Dom's stupid ass idea! I can't even afford a lawyer; all the money I've got goes into the same account as the money from the heists and the feds are probably watchin' the damn thing so I can't even get the money that _wasn't_ from the heists." Letty ranted; she reached into her pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.

"Don't do that Letty. Every thing you put into your body goes to your baby, too." I said, holding out my hand waiting for her to put the carton in my hand. "Listen…I know people who can make all this disappear…" I started to say. I heard her pocketknife flip open as she cleaned the dirt from under her nails.

"He's been promising me a beach in México for years. It's time he followed through on that." She said with a laugh.

"My grandmother has a friend who's a wedding planner; do the whole thing down in México." Letty opened her mouth to make a smart comment but fell silent.

"You're sure you could pull something like that off?" she asked, an unfamiliar giddiness in her voice.

"The white dress, the guests, the whole damn enchilada." By now we'd passed through an unpatrolled area in the border and were driving towards Tijuana to catch up with the rest of the team. "If I tell you something, you gonna keep it on the DL?"

"You do realise who you're talkin' to, right? This is Letty—your best friend since forever here, damnit!" Now I was laughing.

"Alright, alright. Point taken. Couple days ago; after you told me to go get laid? Seems our boys are thinkin' on the same wave length."

A/N: HEY! Sorry for taking so long t' update; school's been hella crazy! Enjoy, R&R and maybe I'll update sooner next time!!


	8. 2 AM

Chapter Eight:

"She's in good hands, brother, and you know it." Dom turned to see Vince sit down beside him.

"I know, but its different this time; her and Lilah being on a road trip together." Dom said.

Danica and Jesse were sitting on the hood of her Mustang talking. Leon must have said something to upset the redhead who'd been riding with him because now Jesse was yelling at him for it.

The next morning Dom woke to find Letty in the hotel bed beside him, still dressed in the clothes she'd been wearing when she went to take Mia back to Los Angeles with Delilah.

"What time did you and De get in last night, baby?" Dom whispered, pulling Letty to him.

"Mmm; about two. V & Lilah 're back together, Dom. Engaged, actually."

"Why are you tellin' me this, Letty?" Dom asked, not bothering to look at her as he pulled a white wifebeater over his head. "I asked you once, and you shot me down."

"That was different, Dom." Dom gave an exasperated sigh.

"How, Letty? How does it figure that Vince's ex from ten years ago shows up and they wind up engaged three days later but I can't get the girl I've been with for eight goddamn years to marry me?" dom roared back at her. Letty stood toe to toe with him right up until Dom slammed the bathroom door hard enough to cause dust to come loose from the spackled ceiling.

"What the hell was that?" I heard Vince ask. As groggy as I might have been, I still knew a Toretto Door slam when I heard one.

"Experience tells me that was the world-famous-Toretto-door-slam." I said, sitting up and reaching for my robe.

"Babe, you know as well as I do that they gotta fight it out." He said, trying to pull me back to bed.

"That was then. She wasn't pregnant the last time I witnessed this." I shot back, moving swiftly towards the door. Vince's weight made the door unmovable.

"He won't hit her; you know that just as well as I do, Delilah." This made me stop dead in my tracks.

"Tell me something, did you just happen to forget what Dominic did to Kenny Linder?" I knew I'd hit a nerve when his nostrils flared.

"That was a long time ago, Delilah." Vince replied calmly. I turned around and looked him in the eye.

"What would you say to my father if he was still around to use me as his personal punching bag; if you hadn't shown up out of the blue that night?" I demanded of him, now thoroughly irritated that I'd had to drudge up my past just to make a point.

The bathroom door opened and Letty froze in her pacing. Turning, she eyed Dom hesitantly.

"Say it again." Dom stopped and straightened, stiffening in the process.

"Say what, Letty? If you're hoping for the whole damn elaborate speech you got the other day at Delilah's beach house, you can forget about it. What the hell would make me want to do that again? Why would I want to knowingly put myself through that? What possible reason could you give for that?" Dom asked, hands braced on either side of the vanity counter.

"I'd say 'yes' this time." Letty said, willing her voice not to crack.

Vince and I were leaning against the wall across from Dom and Letty's room, three doors down from ours, when the door opened to reveal a version of Letty that I'm not sure I had ever seen before.

"Let…" I don't think she had a chance to even acknowledge that I'd spoken before Vince moved to charge into the room. "Vince. DO. NOT. HURT. HIM." He stopped for a split second before going into the room, shutting the door behind him.

As best I could, I got Letty back to my room, and once we were inside, I realised that all I could really do for her was be there if she ended up wanting to talk about whatever it was that had just gone down between her and Dom.

"Letty I swear to god I don't have the energy to fight with you right now." Dom said, hearing the door latch shut again.

"Fightin' wit me ain't gonna end with you gettin' laid, dawg." Vince said, watching Dom from across the room. "You wanna explain what the hell's goin' on wit you two?" Dom shrugged it off like it were no different from any other fight he'd ever had with Letty and changed the subject.

"So I hear you and the Good Doctor are gettin' hitched, brother." He shook his head, he still couldn't believe Vince, of all people, was gonna be a married man.

"Don't change the subject, Toretto. What the hell's up with you and Letty? Normally it's Mia slammin' doors, not _you_."

It seemed like hours had passed before Vince came back from Dom's room. He looked more pissed off than he had when Dom had woken the both of us by slamming a door in his hotel room.


	9. If It Makes You Happy

**Chapter Nine:** If It Makes You Happy

The next day, Dom and Letty still weren't talking to each other. Dixie and Leon were itching to get back on the road to wherever-the-hell it was they were going, as were Danica and Jesse.

It was 5:45 A.M.—the sun wasn't even up yet—and both couples were pacing the length of the room Vince and Charlotte were now—for the moment—sharing with Letty.

"My granddad's place in La Ciudad can hold all of us without doubling up." Charlie said once they were all congregated in the room, discussing where to go from Tijuana. 

"Why don't we just go to Rosarito?" Dom asked, not moving from where he stood by the door.

"Rosarito's a beach town…nowhere near an airport if we ever needed one." Charlotte said flatly, folding her arms across her chest. "I have connections in New York; people who could make this mess y'all out of the mess you're in." Dom looked anything but happy.

"We don't **need** your help, Doctor Callahan." He said tightly. "We can take care of ourselves."

"And what about Letty, Dom? What if something happened to her or the baby, _Dominic_? You'd never forgive yourself if something happened to either of them, _would you_?" Dom looked shocked that anyone had the gall to speak to him like that.

"Everybody **load up**." Vince growled. After having put a serious dent in Dom's "my-way-or-the-highway" rule, Charlie began to realise exactly what they stood to lose if either of the two chose to walk away. They hit the road and Letty fell asleep almost immediately.

They'd been on the road almost six hours when Letty woke up.

"You want me to drive a while?" she asked, her voice still husky from sleep.

"Nah, I'm good; I figure I got another few hundred miles before I fall asleep." Letty nodded and stretched as best she could in the confines of the car.

"When you go to New York—"

"I never said I was going to New York."

"But you will, even if you don't say it." Letty retorted. "When you go, I'm comin' with you." Charlotte hadn't been expecting Letty to say that.

"Why would you wanna do something like that, Letty?" she asked, not really wanting or expecting an answer.

"I need time to think…I have no intention of spending the rest of my fucking life running from the cops just because Dom says so."

"And what about the baby, Letty?" she shrugged.

"If he wants to be a part of my baby's life, he's going to have to prove he's willing to go home." Letty answered, reclining the seat slightly.

"If he doesn't want my help with these legal problems, you all might never get back to L.A., Letty." Charlie said carefully.

"I'm not talking about goddamn Los Angeles, Charlie; or, hell, even fucking Echo Park in general." Letty said. "I'm talking about choosing a town in god-knows-where and staying put for awhile." And with that, charlotte was beginning to understand just what was going on inside her friend's mind.

"You two need to talk about this stuff, Letty." Charlotte may not have been looking at Letty but she could feel the impact of the darker woman's "don't-you-think-i-know-that" glare.

"You know you're bullshitting me about not going to New York." It was more of a statement than an actual question, but the meaning was the same.

"And what if I am, esa?" Charlie laughed. "What are you gonna do about it?"

"I'ma beat your ass."

"Yeah? You and what damn army, Girlfight?" Charlie retorted. "Dom wouldn't let you start a damn rumble even if your life depended on it."

"Fuck you, Charlie!"

"Not in this lifetime, you won't, Letty." Charlotte had been through many a "fuck-you-athon" in the seeming eons she'd spent around the Toretto family.

"I'll talk to Dom and shit but I'm still going with you to Nueva York." Letty resolved.

"If it makes you happy, you can come with; we'll get you a damn good OB—one at a hospital NOT in Mexico—see what they can tell us." Charlotte put the car on cruise control before saying anything more. "Maybe see what we can do about maternity clothes, while we're at it."

"Dammit, Charlie! I'm not even showing yet!" Charlotte laughed.

"Not at the moment, you're not, but wait about another month or so and see how much of your shit still fits you!"


	10. Little Goodbyes

**Chapter 10:**

Upon hearing this, Dom was hurt, and clearly angry. And at the same time, he felt the uncontrollable urge to somehow make her see his side of things. But the questions abounded: what exactly was his side and more importantly, how the hell was he going to justify all the shit he'd dragged Letty and the boys through?

"Letty, baby, there was no other way to do what we had to do without going through with the heists. Besides, you were all up for it." He said.

"Even when we ALL told you it didn't feel right? We told you we shouldn't be doing what we did that night!" Letty shouted back at him. A look of realisation crossed Dominic's face upon hearing Letty's words. He was sorry about having forced them to pull the final hijacking, that much he was sure of. He'd never intended for things to end up the way they did.

''Letty I never thought things would happen the way they did, all of the rest of the heists went smoothly...do you really think I'd put you or any of the guys through that knowing what was gonna happen?'' he replied, trying desperately to keep his tone calm. "Shit if I'd of known you were pregnant I wouldn't have let you out the house!"

"But we TOLD YOU...all of us! we told you we shouldn't do it!" Letty snarled, near tears.

"How was I suppose to know that the shit woulda hit the fan!" Letty laughed at the irony of her lover's words.

"Thats what you get for not listening to us! Hell, even Mia was begging us not to do it!"

"I know what you said and I'm sorry...I wouldn't have gone through with it if I knew things would turn out this way!"

"I mean you never said no before."

"Dom, no one ever says no to you…that's why your ego is so fucking big! And when I do say no, you blow a gasket…and why all the skanks got to you so easily…and the same reason i never left you!" Letty yelled back at him, oblivious to the fact that she was now crying full force. "But this time there will be no more Dom this or Dom that, or whatever Dom needs or wants…it's not gonna be like that anymore. I don't have the time to worry about you, honestly I don't think I want to anymore.''

"Fine! Go to New York and find some rich-ass snowman to support you and MY baby!" Dom matched the pain in Letty's voice with the anger soaking his own.

"Your a big boy, you can take care of yourself you can clean up your own fuck-up. I'm not gonna live like this anymore, I love you but things have got to change. If your not willing to do what needs to be done than ok that fine…I'll leave and you won't see me again. But I'm not gonna put my child through any of this.'' Letty said, her voice slowly breaking. "But remember this: I'll always love you, no matter how far apart we are. You're a part of me. This WILL tear you apart like it's doing to me."

"That's my baby too, you weren't the only one in that bed. you can't take what's mine away from me…"

''You're one of the only things I have left and you're just gonna walk away instead of staying and working it out?''

"You've been so damn different since you got out of Lompoc that I dont even know you anymore to even TRY to work things out!" Letty shot back, somewhere between seething angry and distraught. "…And besides, you have MIA!"

"Yeah but i'll always have Mia , she's my sister…your my woman!" Dom roared back at her.

"You make it sound like I'm your goddamn property!" Dom gave her a serious face. "I'm sorry, what was that? Gonna have to speak up, there, Dom."

"Well what would you call it, then?" Dom retorted. "You're mine, end of story."

"I love you, goddamnit! If you can't see the difference between someone you want to spend the rest of your life with and a piece of property, then to hell with you!"

It was at this moment that Vince and Leon were finally able to break down the door to Dom and Letty's bedroom, interrupting the fighting, though the two men were left wondering what in the world it was they had interrupted. Letty seized the moment to leave the room, hell-bent on finding Charlie.


	11. No Day But Today

Chapter Eleven:

**Chapter Eleven:**

**FLASHBACK**

_Letty slept in Charlie's room for three days before the pair left for New York. _

_In that time, Dom and Vince had occupied Leon and Jesse's time __breaking up__ fights and Charlie's time dressing their respective wounds and fighting with both Dom and Vince. She'd made her opinion of Dom's dictator-esque behavior perfectly clear in those three short days._

_It was raining—for the third day in a row—three days into their trip to New York, not that it bothered Letty much. She'd spent the days sleeping, and when she wasn't sleeping, she was crying herself back to sleep._

**END FLASHBACK**

She'd been in a meeting with her grandmother's contacts at the Bureau for nearly three hours, which was only just now beginning to wrap up. There was nothing that could be done strictly from New York, but they would see what they could do to while keeping the danger-factor to a minimum considering that one of the participants was pregnant. When she finally made it back to the house, Letty was watching some soap opera.

"How many fuckin' channels does this thing get?!" Letty asked as charlotte entered the den.

"Since when do you watch soap operas?" she asked back.

"Nothing else is on and I don't want to watch the news." Letty answered calmly. "What'd the lawyers say?"

"Not much other than that they can't do much from New York. They'll let us know what their bosses in D.C. say . but that could be a while."

"You should call Vince; let him know what's going on." Letty said, her attention returning to the program on the television. Charlie turned and headed down the hall towards her bedroom, rooting through drawers as she entered.

"Where the hell did I put that tape?" her phone rang, interrupting her thoughts. "Hello?" it wasn't a number she recognized.

"How is she?" but the voice told her who it was. Dominic Toretto.

"She's fine right now. At the moment she's watchin' soap operas, believe it or not." Charlie said, glancing towards the den.

"Has she said anything to you?" Dom asked, hesitance in his voice.

"About you? Not yet. She'll call you when she's ready to." Charlie said. "'s Vince around?"

"Why, you sick of talkin' to me already?"

"No, it's just that Letty's got an appointment later this afternoon when he usually calls." There was a moment of prolonged silence before she heard the phone change hands, followed by the slamming of a door.

"Babe, what the hell did you say to him?"

"All I said was that Letty had an appointment for the baby around the time you usually call." Charlie explained. "Where'd he go?"

"Some little cantina on the edge of town. You think she'd talk to me?"

"I dunno; how's Dixie?"

"Supposedly tryin' to kill leon by putting him on a horse."

"And Danica?"

"Girl's got the whole male population in this place wrapped around her finger."

"Let me guess, the car?"

"I think the fact that they all think she's the hottest thing to hit mexico city doesn't help. Put Letty on already."

"Ya know, for someone who was beggin' me to marry him, you're pretty damn anxious to talk to Letty." Charlie teased.

"Just cause you ain't got a ring on your finger don't mean you're a free woman."

"Be careful, V…you're beginnin' to sound like Toretto." She warned.

"How you doin', girl?"

"I been better…like wakin' up with you instead of by my lonesome."

"If that's an invitation I'll be on a plane—"

"Oh no you don't. much as I'd like to have you hear, you gotta keep Rockie outta trouble."

"Yeah, well, Rockie's a big boy… he can man up about this and be rid of the daily hangovers." Throughout her conversation with Vince, Charlie continued rooting through the drawers in her room, finally finding the tape.

"V? I'll call you back after Letty's appointment, alright?" Charlie said.

"Something wrong, baby?" By then she'd already hung up.

"Letty, let's go!" Charlie hollered from the bottom of the staircase.

"Nothin' fits any-fucking-more!" Letty yelled from her room.

"Then put on a pair of sweats and a loose shirt…we gotta go! I'll take ya shoppin later!" just then, Letty appeared on the landing of the stairs.

"Do I fuckin' look like Mia to you?"

An hour and a half later, they'd hit Madison Avenue, Park Avenue, and 5th Avenue in consecutive order. At present, though, they were sprawled out on a grassy bank of one of Central Park's less populated ponds.

"This doesn't seem real." Letty whispered. She'd been so quiet Charlie had almost thought her to be asleep. "It scares the hell outta me but at the same time, I can't wait for mi hija to get here."

"You'll be fine, Letty. Any kid would be lucky to get you for a mami." Charlie said, rolling over on to her stomach.

"Yeah right…watch, this kid's gonna be more fucked up than me an' Dominic combined." Letty laughed. "What about you an' V?"

"I was thinkin' about gettin' a job at Mercy hospital. Dunno what department, though."

"I never really thought I was the maternal type." Letty said quietly.

"It'll feel more like second nature after a while." Charlie said, trying to reassure her friend.

"You think so? I'm hoping to be able to enjoy this." Letty said, smiling slightly.

"Lemme guess," Charlie said laughing. "You were hoping Mia would be a mami first so you could go off her example?" Letty snorted. 

"There's an idea…no, actually I just thought, you know, that it'd be planned…never thought I'd just have his kid."

"Really, now? I seem to remember you gushin' about how you were gonna marry that Neanderthal one day."

"I was stupid, what can I say?" Letty laughed, sighing. "We were happy then, things were good. I don't even know where we are now."

"Sounds about like me an' Vince, ya know? Apparently he wants the whole 'commitment' thing but it doesn't feel right." Charlie said. "Feels like somethin's off."

"I never thought of Vince being the type to want the whole wife, kids…Brady bunch thing. It suits him. what doesn't feel right?"

"shit if i know. i could ask you the same thing about you and Toretto." Charlie answered, laughing.

"Awww shit. I don't know…i don't wanna know," Letty said, slouching into the couch.

"And what are you gonna tell your baby when she asks about her daddy, and why you two aren't together anymore?"

"Because he's an enormous idiot who has his head so far up his own fucking ass that he can't see straight, much less give a damn about me or any other person on the planet." Letty ranted without missing a beat.

"Let, he obviously cares about you," Charlie reasoned, "otherwise he'd have booted you to the curb a long time ago and you know it.

"He'll never let his fucking trophy go," Letty sneered, "God forbid someone else gets their hands on me."

"Letty. He coulda had any one of those stupid whores at the races any time he wanted. Hell, he coulda had ME, not that he'd get the time of day," Charlie snapped back at her friend. "But still, he chose YOU! Over every other girl who threw themselves at him."

"Maybe if he'd gone a different way we wouldn't be in this shit," Letty said before retorting, "You've only ever had eyes for Vince and ya know it."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" Charlie said, stretching. "Ya know, one of the very first things I did when I got to New York was hit Broadway. Know what show I saw?"

"Hmm?"

"_Rent_." Charlie answered simply. "There's a song in the show that has a line that goes something like, '_There's only us; there's only this. Forget regret or life is yours to miss. No day but today._' hell, you'd probably need to see the show to understand the point."

"I wish it was only us, hell, Charlie, I don't know what to do…there's just too damn much going on." Letty said, sounding nearly ready to give up entirely.


	12. Did I Stutter?

Chapter Twelve:

**Chapter Twelve:** Did I stutter?

"What, you and Dom getting' locked in that room together wasn't enough?" Charlie asked. "Remind me never to listen to a 70 year old housekeeper."

"Do you think we _can_ fix it?" Letty asked, her tone stating that she wanted to fix it but that she was unsure if it could be done.

"I do, but it don't matter what I think if your heart ain't in it."

"I want this so much it hurts. I'm so fucking sick of running." Letty said, pushing herself into an upright position. "But he'd never give it up though."

"Have you asked him, Let? To come back to the States, I mean?"

"We haven't really been talking…unless you count screaming at and pissing each other off. Breakin' doors, that kinda shit." Letty said, half-tempted to laugh at the incident with the door.

"You oughta call him, and not just because I said so but 'cause ya wanna! To tell him what the doc said, about his daughter." Charlie said, gently prodding Letty in the right direction.

"What if he doesn't want to talk to me?"

"When I talked to V earlier, Dom picked up; asked why I wanted to talk to V, so I kinda had to tell him you had your appointment. He gave V the phone and then slammed out of the house to drink till he passed out. If memory serves, he only does that when you leave him on his own."

"It serves him right…he _should_ feel like shit," Letty grumbled, sighing and rubbing at her eyes. "But I don't want him goin' through that…"

"Then you **need** to talk to him. You've been in love with the man since we were, what , like 9 years old?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Letty said, ruefully. "God how I wish I'd grown out of it."

"Call the boy," Charlotte said, pulling her phone from her jacket pocket. "It'll make ya feel better…maybe actually help you get some sleep t'night instead of watchin soaps all night?"

"They're actually pretty interesting…" Letty said, shocking even herself, "Carlos found stephanie cheating and went apeshit…" she trailed off upon receiving a menacing look from Charlie. "Okay, okay."

"Number one on speed dial."

"Hello!?"

"Whatchu been smokin', man?" Letty asked, laughing.

"Leticia, is that you?"

"Well, I aint exactly in mexico, now am I, Dominic?" Letty said slowly, to allow the doped-up Dom time to process.

"No, you left," Dominic sighed, fully coherent. "You left me without a care in the world."

"I _do_ care about you, Dominic," Letty said softly. "But we **have** to get our acts together, papi."

"We can't do that with you in another country, mira," Dominic said mournfully, "_Jesus Cristo,_ I'm so messed up."

"I don't exactly have the best options for doctors in Mexico," Letty sighed, "_Dios,_ you're missing so damn much."

"I know, what'd the doctor say?"

"I'm fine, she's fine—" was all Letty could say before Dom cut her off.

"What?!" he gasped.

"Did I stutter?" Letty asked, laughing softly.

"A girl, a girl…VIIIIINNCE!!" Dom laughed and hooted hysterically.

"Dom. Dom, quit yellin' in the phone, dammit!"

"Sorry babe, sorry. yeah Vince…yeah shut up. Really? a little girl? Don't let Mia anywhere near her." Letty laughed at this.

"I haven't heard from her since we took her back to LA..." she said, before continuing softly, "I miss you."

"I love you. I wanna see you."

"Then what's stopping you?" Letty asked, sounding as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

"I'm scared." Dom answered, his voice gravelly, "I don't want to mess up more than I already have…it's been hell. I try to concentrate on something else but Vince keeps bringing Charlie up, _Charlie this and Charlie that…i wonder what charlie and letty are doing._ Then I think about you, being away from me, and I get frustrated, and mad, and then I start drinking…"

"I think I'm scared enough for the both of us, Dominic," Letty said, softly laughing, softly repeating, "I love you."

"Awww babe don't say that, you can't be scared." Dom said in a hushed whisper. "I don't like it when your scared, you should never feel that way when your with me…"

"Then come to New York already! God, you think I wanna be up here, 2000 miles away from you?" Dom turned to yell, covering the receiver of the phone.

"JESSE!!"

"WHAT!?"

"Call the airport see if they have any flights goin to New York. Come on hurry your ass up!"

"Come on!! Danica, leave him alone for 2 minutes!!"

"Teach that asshole to use a computer already, Jesse!" Danica shouted in response to Dom's comment.

"I'm workin' on it, babe," Dom spoke softly into the phone. "I miss you so much."

"I wish you could have been here for that appointment, Dom." Letty said sadly.

"I know…did you see her?"

"Kid looks like an alien; not much to see yet, though," Letty answered, amusement in her voice. "Only difference is the weight that's gone to my ass and turned my boobs into a ton of fuckin' bricks…"

"Awwww, Letty…" Dom moaned into the phone, trying to keep the arousal her statement induced to a minimum. "JESSE!! Are there any flights out? come on Einstein."

"Not for a few days." Jesse could be heard saying in the background. "Soonest is over the weekend."

"Motherf…" Dom groaned. "Seems it'll be a couple days, babe."

"I love you, Dom. I'll call you tomorrow?"

"Love you too; take care, be careful. Call me in the morning…Oh and tell Charlie to give her boy-toy a call…he's driving me nuts."

"Maybe I should give YOU a call," Letty laughed, "I love you. I'll talk to you later." Dom laughed.

"Bye babe, love you."


	13. Love Letters

Chapter Thirteen: Love Letters

**Chapter Thirteen:** Love Letters and Phone Calls

"You feel better after talkin' to him?"

"Yeah, he's coming in a couple days…can you believe that?" Letty said, smiling brightly.

"I told you you'd feel better." Charlie said. "You bout ready to head home? maybe think about findin' a job that wont be affected by the baby?"

"That sounds like a good idea, I'm hungry…don't you wantta be good person and feed your best friend?" Letty said, batting her eyes.

"What're ya feelin, food wise?"

"Mexican."

"Takeout or order in?"

"Order in, it's almost time for one of my stories…"

"See, look at the hickies up and down Stephanie's neck…she was doing it with the neighbors gardener…"

"You thought about life after the garage?"

"Yeah…" Letty answered, quietly. It wasn't really something she wanted to think about too heavily.

"I mean after the garage but with Dom still in the picture. ever thought about what you'd wanna do for a living if you got sick of being a mechanic?"

"I know he'll still be with me, but it's sad to think of not workin on cars everyday. it's my life…everything I love."

"There's nothing else you've ever wanted to do, or at least try?"

"I've always liked designing the cars, you know colors, graphics. I'm pretty good at it, Dom used to say I had an eye for that sorta thing. I loved art in school, bout the only subject I liked."

"See? you dont always have to be elbow-deep in engine grease to be around cars! and graphic design pays tons better than straight automotive work!" Charlie watched her friend's face light up.

"Your right…" Letty said smiling, "God knows I won't be able to actually work on a car for a while."

"I bet you could probably get a job at any body shop in the city doin' that. you got a portfolio or somethin like that?"

"Yeah, back home. Mia should know where it is. Harry has one…he actually has photos splattered on a wall at Racer's Edge. I've done work for hector too.

"Well then, this might be easier than you expected; you've got a portfolio; references, pretty much the works." Charlie said, finishing her food.

"I'll call Mia and tell her to mail it to me. think we could go looking tomorrow?"

"No reason why not."

"Wonder what Dom'll say?"

"Call him. God knows he was happy to hear from you earlier."

"Hehe, maybe later." Letty laughed, chewing into an enchilada. "What'd Vince say? You got him whipped, I like that…"

"That it was about time you finally called Dom's stupid ass."

"Dom says Vince is a pain in the ass, 'Charlie this and Charlie that.'"

"Well, like you said, I got the boy wrapped round my lil finger. just like your baby will have Dom wrapped around hers…and you, too probably, will have him whipped."

"Can you imagine another me?" Letty asked, laughing and nearly choking on her food. "Dom better run!"

"Whole damn **WORLD** better run." Charlie shot back.

"That was mean…true, but still mean!" Letty said, pretending to be offended.

"Man, please…just _livin'_ in Casa Toretto back in the day was like livin' in World War III when you two were fighting."

"Maybe my baby'll be quiet; y'know, like a little Mia?"

"Maybe…" Charlie said, pulling something from her pocket. "I was told by Dom to give this to you when I thought the time was right. I dont know what's on it, just that I was to give it to you when I saw fit."

"What is it?"

"Somethin' Dom recorded while you were holed up in me an' V's room back in Mexico."

"Why couldn't he just tell me?"

"'Cause you wasn't talkin' to anybody but me, 'member?"

"I don't wanna hear it," Letty sighed, sinking into the armrest of the couch.

"I think it's some kind of audio love letter or somethin sappy like that. He was damn near insistent that I give it to you." Charlie pushed, barely nudging her friend's decision. Letty looked at the tape.

"And if it pisses me off?"

"Do what you do best." Charlie said as though it were the most simple thing in the world.

"I don't know, I don't want to ruin the mood," she said, her gaze falling to the floor. "he's coming here to work things out…what if that makes me mad and not want to see him?"

"I tell you what, we'll listen together, and I'll shut it off if you want me to."

"Alright," Letty said, still reluctant. Charlie put the tape in the player and Dom's voice filled the room.

"_Letty, I go to sleep at night in an empty bed. When I awake I feel your warmth and the smell of your being lingers on your pillow, but you are gone. I long to wrap my arms around you as we sleep, to rest my face upon your shoulder, but you are not here. What keeps you away? What is more important than me? Maybe I don't understand because you are the most important person in my life. _

"_Does that make me dependent on you? Does it make me weak to love you so much? You are my first priority; you're the first thing I think about in the morning and the last at night. You're first on my list…I wish you would love me enough never to be separated from my side. If you would only rush home and gather me in your arms with promises of never leaving again...But you know that I am always here when you need me, so I wait for you my love..."_ Letty crushed her face to a pillow, sobbing.

"Ya change your mind about callin'?" Letty sniffled before answering.

"Give me the phone please." Charlie handed her the cell. Dominic answered on the first ring.

"Dom. That tape—"

"You heard it?"

"—was the most romantic thing i've ever heard."

"I meant every single word."

"I know," she said, sniffling again, "i know that. I do."

"Don't cry, mami," Dom said, "please don't cry."

"I'm not crying because I'm sad." Letty whispered, rubbing at the tears on her face.

"You see how much I love you, mira?"

"Yeah…God I wish you were here."

"Just a couple days, mami," Dom sighed, "couple days…"

"I might not let you leave again," Letty said through a fresh wave of tears.

"I'm not planning on letting you outta my sight again."

"I can live with that. Just get your ass here as soon as possible," Letty said, almost laughing.

"Don't worry, baby," Dom laughed, "I'll be there as soon as possible."

"How much longer?"

"I should be there by Saturday morning, mija," Dom said slowly. "Round 10 a.m."

"I'll call every day."

"You better." Dominic teased.

"I love you so much it hurts to say goodbye," Letty whispered into the phone.

"I'll be thinking of you. Love you," Dom said, about to hang up the phone.

"Can't you just…stay and talk to me for a while?" Letty said quickly, not ready for the conversation to end. "Right now I could listen to your voice forever."

"What'd you wanna talk bout?" 

"Doesn't matter," Letty said, moving to her bedroom and curling up in the bed. "just keep talking."

"I don't like Danica all that much…keeps saying I'm bitter 'cause I ain't gettin any." Letty laughed at this. God, how Dominic missed the sound of Letty's laughter.

"You _are_ bitter when I don't put out," She teased, "or when I'm not around."

"Stop rubbin' it in, dammit…You know there's something else you could rub…" he groaned. "Dammit I miss you." His voice was rough.

"I think the feeling's mutual, Dommy."

"I think I might cry…" Dom said, "I might actually break down and cry…"

"I heard the heartbeat this afternoon and all I could think about was how badly I wished you were here." Letty said. Her words unintentionally made Dominic's heart ache.

"You heard it," he whispered, silently damning himself for not being there with her.

"Kinda hard _not_ to with a sonogram," Letty laughed, trying to lighten the tension. "damn these hormones! I'm crying every five fucking minutes!"

"How's the morning sickness…i haven't been doing too well,"

"That's a hangover, Dominic…there's a difference," Letty teased, "that happens when you drink till you pass out. The peppermint tea Charlie's been giving me helps."

"I could use soma that stuff."

"I dont know that it works for hangovers, babe."

"Ugh, I _need_ to stop drinkin', dammit."

"Yeah, especially since I'm not drinking anymore."

"You better not. Goddamnit, I miss you."

"I miss you too, Dominic," Letty said, "but everything I put in my body goes to the baby, too."

"No more hanging around leon and his pot."

"…or you and your nasty-ass Cuban cigars."

"Aww, Letty, come on…"

"I'm serious!" Letty snapped, "What, did you miss the day in school when they said that second hand smoke kills more than smoking alone?!"

"I know, I know…no more. Promise…"

"Get rid of 'em and I **might** let you sleep in the bed in stead of on the couch." Letty said, threatening.

"Can't I just you know put them away?" Dom asked hopefully.

"As long as you dont smoke 'em," She said, changing the subject, "how's your shoulder?"

"Hurts like a bitch. wish you were here to kiss my boo-boo…"

"I'll kiss more than just your boo-boo if you ever get here, Dominic…"

"What day is it again?" Dom asked.

"Tuesday."

"Dammit. Four more days…"

"Do you have any idea how much I miss you right now?" Letty asked, unaware of how much worse she was making Dom's current condition.

"Tell me…" Dom almost moaned.

"I could almost come down there and get you myself." Dom grinned to himself, though Letty couldn't see it.

"What else would ya do?"

"Why, lock you in our room and have my wicked way with you of course."


	14. Love Letters conclusion

Dom:

**Chapter Thirteen:** Love Letters and Phone Calls (Conclusion)

"Charlie better be outta there when I get there," Dom said, mischief in his voice. "We're gonna be makin' too much noise."

"So you're gonna gimme one of those massages, hmm?" Letty rasped, "Like the old days?"

"Like we ever got around to the actual massage." Dom laughed.

"Oh, but what I got was **so** much better!" came Letty's reply.

"We need to stop talkin' about this or I'm not gonna be able to walk straight." Dom groaned, shifting himself, trying to find a comfortable position.

"I'm sorry you're uncomfortable, baby." Letty's voice had dropped to a huskier tone than the one it had mere moments before.

"More than uncomfortable, baby," Dom ground out. "I'm in pain."

"You sure I can't help you with that from here?" Letty asked, knowing full well the effect she was having on Dominic.

"Aww, sonofa…" Dom groaned, "maybe I can get an earlier flight."

"Whatchu wearin'?" Letty asked,

"Jeans…pretty much nothin' else…"

"You been workin' in the garage?" she asked sweetly, "You know how much I love the way you smell after you been workin' in the garage."

"'m actually sittin' on the hood of my car." Dom answered.

"Kinda like how you were the **very** first time you kissed me?" Letty asked, thinking back to the day he finally her wildest dream come true.

"Yeah…goddamn you were so fuckin' sweet, so hot…" Dom rasped out, his situation quickly escalating.

"I'm kinda warm, now, too…" Letty said, deviously. "bought a bottle of coconut body wash at the body shop, today. You like that don't you, Dom?"

"Yeah…your pillow still smells like it," Dom rumbled, "your not helpin me out here Leticia…"

"Maybe not in the way you'd like," Letty said coyly. "but I'm definitely helping you. you're awful quiet, Dom. Somethin' wrong? Ya know Charlie's couch is about the same color as the one we had in the garage back in L.A…only newer-looking."

"Same size?" Dom asked, becoming more and more desperate to relieve his situation.

"Pretty damn close…"

"Well she's gonna want a new couch by the time I'm even **halfway** done with you…" Dom growled, sending shivers down Letty's spine.

"Am I not helpin' your problem, Dommy?"

"You're such a tease, Leticia." Dom moaned. "She's gonna want a new kitchen table…might break hers."

"We never did it there," Letty laughed.

"Well get ready." Dom said cockily.

"Any other places you wanna try it, hot shot?"

"Counters, floors, shower," Dom moaned between each locale. "Dammit now I got all these images in my head!"

"D'you remember the time you came home to find me in your bed, birthday-suit only? I think it **was** your birthday, actually."

"Best damn birthday _ever_," he said, laughing uncontrollably. "couldn't even walk straight the next day."

"I'm guessin' the same's true for you right now? Weren't there a few places you wanted to do it but I wouldn't agree to it?" she asked.

"Yeah, nobody was outside, Lett," He whined, "Why wouldn't you try the pool? Totally unfair!"

"Charlie's got a pool—well, I should say _this place_ has a pool," Letty said, "indoor, down in the basement; totally soundproofed, totally isolated.

"Don' worry, you ain't gonna need a bathing suit," Dom growled. "That fitting room at Macy's was nice…"

"I did it with you there…" Letty replied, "Twice actually. Or was it three times?"

"Woulda been four if that ugly old hag of a sales lady hadn't recognized us…you make too damn much noise, woman!" Dom grumbled.

"I think you enjoyed it more than I did 'cause of that damn mirror," Letty snarked. "I swear, you like watchin' yourself get off."

"I like watching you get me off." Dom stated firmly.

"Well, then," Letty said, sounding somewhat self-satisfied, "guess it's too bad I wouldn't let you tape us, huh, Dom?" He grinned sheepishly, though Letty couldn't see it.

"I wouldn't say that, baby."

"…Or was it that Catholic school uniform that made you the hardest and got you off the hardest?"

"Dammit!" Dom mumbled under his breath, but not low enough that Letty didn't hear it. "Why did I forget that fuckin' tape?" Dom was clearly mad at himself about something.

"What tape, baby?"

"'At was the best surprise ever," Dom said in a lame attempt to distract Letty from what he'd just said. "Huh?"

"You said, 'why did I forget the damn tape'." Letty repeated, "what tape?"

"No tape." Dom said quickly.

"…think I still have that uniform somewhere," Letty said more to herself than to Dom.

"Yeah, I put it away…if I tell you something promise not to be mad?" Dom said, still distracted. "I mean, you're gonna find out eventually."

"Depends…" Letty teased, "will you tell me how I can get you off all the way from New York?" Dom groaned and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck.

"There's a tape…" he said, flinching, slightly, "actually, maybe two…"

"Now…tell me how I can get you off from new york and you can keep your cajones," Letty said.

"On your hands and knees." Dom answered, not missing a beat."

"I cant do that over the phone, Dominic. physically impossible." Letty retorted.

"Well, then, tell me what your wearin'; what would you do if you were here?"

"Somethin' that'd suit your silk fetish, baby…" Letty purred into the phone. "A lil silk number…doesn't show any cleavage but it don't leave much to the imagination…shows off all those curves you're so crazy about."


	15. The Woman in Me Needs the Man in You

**Chapter Fifteen:** The Woman in Me… Needs the Man in You

It was almost half past two in the morning when the doorbell rang, followed by insistent hammering on the door. Letty reached the door first, having emerged from the bathroom just as the hammering started.

"Damn bladder," she grumbled under her breath, irritated that she could have been asleep. She pulled the door open to reveal Dominic Toretto standing before her. Her heart skipped a beat once she snapped out of the haze.

Before she could muster anything more, Dom pulled her into a pleading kiss, his arms instinctively moving to wrap around her waist. The moment their bodies touched, Letty pulled away as if she'd been touched by fire.

"What, what is it?" Dom asked, his voice filled with concern in place of the arousal that had begun to fill it.

"The…the baby." Letty stuttered.

"What about her?" Dom asked, eyes widening as he began to panic.

"I…I think I just…" Letty stammered, her motor skills failing her. "I think I just felt the baby move." Before she could muster anything more, Dom pulled her into a tenderly soft kiss, his arms instinctively moving to wrap around her waist.

"What are you doin here?" she stammered, "You're not safe here…"

"I don't care, Letty. I don't like this…" Dom stated, "You not with me; I can't live like that."

"It's not that simple, Dominic…" Letty said quietly. "I'm _**not**_ gonna live on the run and I'm damn sure not gonna do that to my kid."

"You're not gonna get away from me that easily, Letty." Dom growled.

"Who says I'm lookin' to get away from **YOU**?" Letty cried, exasperated. She fought off the urge to let her hormones take control and let the tears flow freely. "I'm trying to get away from living on the run!"

"You make it seem as though you want out. Do you?" Dom asked. She could hear the fear in his voice and was tempted to say yes simply to scare him. "Really think about it, Leticia. I need to know the truth. What you're planning to do."

"I'm trying to get out of **MEXICO** not out of what I have with you!" Letty could feel the tears stinging her eyes.

"Well why didn't you ask me to come with you?" Dom shot back.

"Because _you_ were the one who came up with that **stupid**-**ass** idea of hijacking those trucks!" Letty snapped, "it was safer for it to just be me and Charlotte. Why else would i have called you when i found out our baby is a girl?!"

"You think Charlie's gonna take better care of you than me?" Dom roared, loudly. At that moment, a figure sat up on the couch.

"Would you two **please** shut the hell up and let a guy get some sleep around here?!" Letty turned and cocked her head at the figure before speaking again.

"Vince?!" she took Dom by the arm and led him into the kitchen, closing the door behind her.

"I didn't say that I thought Charlotte could take better care of me than you could, goddamnit!" Letty growled. "I just don't wanna live in Mexico for the rest of my god-given life!"

"You think I do? I don't want that, you know I don't." Dom said, his calloused thumbs wiping the tears from her face.

"Then why are you so against Charlie helping us make the hijackings go away?"

"Because I trusted _Brian_ and look how that blew up in my face." Dom explained, holding Letty's face in his hands. "You seem to go to her more now when you should be coming to me."

"YOU KNOW HER!" Letty screamed, "Hell, you knew her before we knew Jesse and leon!"

"I just wanna be careful now, I know don't her anymore…she's changed, I've changed." Dom answered, his voice unusually calm. "We disagree, mainly about you. I don't want her getting in the middle of everything. I appreciate everything she's doing, I do...I just . I don't know, I can't even think straight anymore. I don't know her."

"Then maybe you should go back to Mexico until you CAN think straight. I trust her, dammit! She lived in the same neighborhood as we did from the time she was 8—she got out of the ghetto made something of herself!" Letty ground out. "I fell in love with you the way you are—the way you've always been—and that's never going to change."

"No, Letty. No more of this 'I need space' shit. You need time to think things through? Fine, think them through with me here. Don't you get it, I can't think straight cause your somewhere else, I need you with me. I don't care, I'm not leaving." Dom stated, leaving no room for negotiations.

"I dont want space, you idiot!" Letty exclaimed, "I want **YOU**! But I dont want you thinking I dont wanna be with you and tryin to break things off!"

"Well then good thing i'm here," Dom growled, pushing Letty against the wall, attacking her mouth with his. She pulled away, keeping him at arm's length.

"That's not what I meant and you know it." Letty said, her voice husky. "I'm not trying to leave your stupid ass for some other man! I've been in love with your stupid ass since I was eight years old!" Dom's expression consisted of a cocky smirk. "What the hell is that look for?"

"Cause I know you ain't goin' nowhere." Dom said shrugging. "As much as you got me around your little finger, your not gonna leave me."

"I'm sorry…I don't see a ring on my finger." Letty said, cattily.

"There would be one if you would have said yes when i asked you before." Dom said, glaring at her.

"I asked you to ask me again in Tijuana." Letty retorted. "If memory serves, you threw me out of the room!"

"You should've said yes the first damned time I asked you," Dom roared, "Come on, I mean you know your not gonna end up with anybody else. Why'd you say no?"

"Because we all know your track record! that's why I said no when you asked three years ago, as well!" Letty shot back, knowingly hitting an open wound.

"Don't remind me." Dom snarled.

"Hey, you asked, man!"

"Yeah well, things are different now. It seems like things could go either way, and you leaving didn't help." Dom said. "I feel like shit."

"Really, now?" Letty said slowly, amazement seeping into her voice. "Mr. Communication finally growing a conscience?"

"It actually hurts, Letty." Dom said, "my insides hurt."

"Like a knife to your gut?" she asked, "like your heart's about to stop?"

"Like you I gave it to you and you threw it away." Dom said, taking her hand and placing it over his heart.

"I'd say the feeling's mutual, Dominic." Letty murmured. Dom looked at her with hurt in his eyes.

"So, when does it stop? Make it stop, _mi vida._" Dom begged.

"I don't think I can. I don't think either of us can. But I'm NOT angry."

"NO! you're not gonna do this." Dom shook his head violently.

"Do WHAT? I'm telling you I dont think either of us can make it stop by ourselves."

"Exactly, you need to make me feel better. I know, selfish bastard. But I can't make anything else work when I'm feeling like this. Why do you think I got on a damn plane and came? I can't take you saying no to me, denying me of what's mine."

"It's called free will, Dom. If I'd used it at Thermal, we wouldn't be in this mess."

"No letty, I'm not free. I feel trapped." Dom sighed.

"By what? Me? I'm not holding you back. You wanna leave? Go!" Letty said. "I can't have a conversation by myself, here, Dom!"

"NO! Not you, I wanna feel free, feel loved. I don't think you love me anymore. That's why I feel trapped. My heart's in turmoil." Dom said, hitting his knees. "I wanna feel you next to me. I want you to want that. To want to be with **me**, to want **me**, need **me**."

"Dom. If I didn't want to be with you, didn't need you or want you, I wouldn't be puking up everything in my stomach every morning. I wouldn't be having YOUR baby."

"I finally knocked you up." Dom said, smiling softly. "Took long enough."

"You knew that in Mexico!" Letty smiled softly at him, "What, did Vince hit you a little too hard?"

"No, it's just , well I've thought about it for a while, having a baby. Actually a long while, before we started jackin trucks…I never knew if you would want that, not then anyways." Dom said, finally stopping for air. "I was always scared that you wouldn't, leave and have it with someone else…guess I'm secured now huh? You not bein able to get away, not when you'll get swollen and not even be able to stand up."

"I could kick your ass any day, Toretto." Letty said, pretending to fight Dom's hold on her.

"Hahahaha, not any day soon." He said, looking at her with amusement i his eyes.

"NO SEX." Dom stopped and paled, his jaw dropping. "Hey. Let's not go to extremes here, baby. You know you can kick my ass. Leticia seriously take it back."

"Don't hold your breath, Dominic. Get used to the idea of cold showers…"

"B..but, hey!" he stuttered, going after her, "Letty, hold on a damn minute!" he yelled just as the door to her room slammed in his face. "HEY!! Open up Letty, please babe you know I was playing, please open the door."

"Give me one goddamn good reason." She said, the door opening a crack.

"Cause I'm tired of not having _you_ next to me. I miss you. You know I was playing." He said, pouting slightly.

"Say it."

"What?" he asked, raising a brow.

"You heard me. Say. It." Letty repeated, slowly this time. "It's the only way you're gonna get through this door."

"I love you. You've kicked my ass before, you can certainly do it again." Dom said, returning to his knees.

"'s a start, but not what I meant."

"I've been an ass, about everything. charlie, the heists, the fighting." He said, "I know I've hurt you, but I'm hurting too. I can't take it, if you shut me out again I'ma tear the door down."

"You still haven't said it."

"I'm sorry, I dont see a ring on my finger." Letty said, cattily.

"Now? NOW?!" Dom exclaimed. "Well it's good I'm on my knees, then."

"I can't hear you," Letty sing-songed. "suit yourself. enjoy sleepin' on the couch in the den." Dom sighed and shoved his way into the room, putting his arms around her waist and kissing her swollen belly.

"Leticia, I've known you since god knows when…I can't remember a time when you weren't around, honestly I don't want too. these last few days have been hell." He said, "I was livid when you said no before, I couldn't see straight. I had the image of you saying yes to somebody else in my head. Then you left with Charlie…all these ideas started popping in my head…you never coming back, me never seeing my baby...you moving on. it hurt, more than you can imagine. Possessiveness filled me. Rage.

I want forever with you, I demand it. I know you don't like the idea of being owned…but you gotta understand. You have me just as much as i have you."

"You tryin' to ask me somethin' specific, Toretto?"

"Don't do this Letty, not the bitch attitude." He said, his voice cracking. "You've said no to me before, I don't rejection well…not from you."

"Then ASK ME!!"

"Will you give me forever," he looked at her hesitantly. "Will you marry me?"

"All this time and you still have to ask? I'd be insane to say no again. 3rd time's the charm, lover." Letty purred into his ear. "Wha's wrong, Dommy? Cat got your tongue? Maybe i should leave tread marks on its face."

"I'd tie you up and take your ass to Vegas..." Dom beamed up at her.

"Really, now?"

"…make sure you didn't say no again."

"'m I gonna at least get a ring this time?"

"NO TAKE BACKS! You said yes it's final! Been carrying this thing along for too fuckin long, "he said, reaching into his left pocket and pulling out a little black box. "You better not take this off, not even when your fingers are swollen and your finger goes purple," he said, taking the ring out of the box, "Give me your hand..." he kissed her knuckles and slid it onto her finger. "Perfect fit."

A while later, Letty'd finally gone back to bed, Dom at her heels. The two lay in Letty's bed, Dom holding her as close as he can get to her.

"How long?" Letty asked, sleepily.

"Wha?"

"How long 've you had the ring, Dominic?" Letty clarified, sleep still coating her voice.

"About 4 years." He said quietly, "I didn't know if that's what you wanted, you never liked the idea of _'belonging'_." he rubbed her belly, kissing behind her ear.

"I love you, Dominic." Letty whispered.

"I always knew, even when I was scared you would leave, I knew…wouldn't let you go." He whispered, murmuring, "Mine, forever, as he kissed the side of her mouth, "I love you."

"Then _come home_. I dont want Mexico." Letty whispered, rolling over to face him. "Hell, Charlie's gramma offered to let me have this place since she's always in Hartford." Dom smiled at her.

"You don't want L.A.?"

"You know me, Toretto." Letty laughed, "I'm a Jersey girl. I could use a white Christmas for once."

"What about the team; Charlie?" Dom asked, laughing.

"You know Vince would follow her into a burning building and not think twice." Letty laughed this time, "Together or not, we're all gonna be family forever."

"I think I'd like a white Christmas…lets talk more about it tomorrow," Dom said, pulling her into a closer hug, pressing his forehead against hers. "How's my baby? What'd the doc say?"

"Your daughter is gonna stretch me in ways I ain't s'posed to go." Letty muttered, still not happy about the changes she'd feel in her body.

"A little letty, oh god…" Dom groaned, kissing Letty's nose. "I'm going to pay dearly if she looks like you."

"A hellraiser like her papi," Letty snickered.

"That sounds nice…_papi_," Dom spoke quietly, "Can you believe it?"

"Thought I was gonna die when I heard the heartbeat." Letty whimpered, tears threatening again.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there…" Dom said, looking deep into her eyes. "Are you scared?"

"Of what? That this kid's gonna be as screwed up as I am? Yeah. Of how this changes shit? Not so much, long as you're around."

"Not plannin' on goin' anywhere; neither are you, for that matter," Dom said, kissing her brow, "She'll be happy; you're gonna do a great job." He fell quiet.

"What you thinkin, Dominic?"

"Just wish Dad was here; I can't live up to that…" Dom said forlornly.

"You're not supposed to have to live up to him, Dominic." Letty said, taking his large hands in her tiny ones. "He's why you are who you are; why I fell in love with you in the first place."

"I just wish he was here to you know talk me through it; to share this with me." Dom said, pulling away a little. "It just hit me, I know he's not here…that he won't be here for me, but I wanted for her to have it…to have his love."

"Don't do that." Letty said, moving closer to close the gap between them, "Don't pull away from me. Not now, not **ever**. Your father would be so proud of who you are now."

"No, not of what's happened," he said, burying his face in Letty's neck. "What I've let get out of hand."

"You're in control **NOW**. That's what's important; that you've got control of your life again."

"Thank you," Dom mumbled, inhaling Letty's natural scent.

"For what? For lovin' you like I do?" Letty asked, her tone teasing lightly.

"For not judging me…accepting me…for making me want more." He said, rubbing her back, more to comfort himself than her, "I've missed this."

"I've missed waking up next to you."

"That won't be a problem anymore." He laughed, "I sure won't miss Vince's snoring."

"Heh...I'm sure he'll be glad to get Charlie back in his bed."

"I don't see how she does it…sleep in the same bed…guess she truly loves him." Dom said, sliding back under the sheets.

"So you'd do it? For me?"

"Do what, babe?"

"Give up Mexico. Come home."

"That's not even a question, we don't belong there." He answered, "although, i still want that beach."

"So you'd give up L.A.? The garage? Being King of the streets?" Letty asked in amazement at what her fiancé was willing to do for her.

"I can't say it'd be easy...but this is what I want. We can always open up a garage here. We can visit L.A. and well racing…we could go to the track here…I'm tired of running, being scared something's gonna happen to you or one of the guys." Dom said, "My dad gave me a great childhood, he'd be happy to know that'd I'd try and give my daughter the same."

"Tha's why he'd be so proud of you, Dominic." Letty murmured drowsily, "just like I am."

"My wife is proud of me," Dom said, kissing her, "What more could I want?"

"To get laid…which isn't going to happen right now cause I'd hate to fall asleep in the middle of it."

"I'm sure i'd keep you awake. You've never fallen asleep before have you?"

"Please...I haven't slept right since we left Charlie's beach house."

"Why? Were you feeling sick?"

"I've never been able to sleep away from you; not since we started sharing a bed."

"Same here…" Dom sighed, "we're so stupid…"

"Love makes people do stupid shit…"

"Well then I guess I've been stupid since you were 16."

"I love you Dominic."

"I love you more. More than you'll ever know."

"I used to dream about this."

"I'm living my dream, I'm afraid of waking up," Dom said, his breath falling against the nape of Letty's neck.

"Like that dream you had of Mexico?" Letty teased.

"Waking up and your not here, loving me having my child," he said, playing with her hair, "I owe you a beach."

"This is better—us being here; our baby; Mexico can wait a decade or two." Letty said, laying her head on Dom's chest, her arm strewn across his torso.

"Well just so you know, your still gonna parade around in a skimpy 2 piece…beach or no beach," Dom said, giving her a stern look.

"Only in the bedroom, right?" Letty taunted, kissing him hard against his mouth as Dom moved in closer.

"I don't care," he murmured, "Just kiss me."

"I was serious when I said not tonight. I just wanna revel in the feeling of you being here again."

"Okay, babe," Dom said, pulling the covers over them and pulling Letty against him, "just happy you're here where you belong…"


	16. My Empire of Dirt

BUChapter Sixteen/U My Empire of Dirt /B

**Chapter Sixteen:** My Empire of Dirt

Thursday morning's sunrise found Leon higher than he could remember being, in addition to not remembering when he'd gone to bad, much less how he'd gotten there.

There was not a doubt in Leon's mind—however severely hung over he may have been—that something had happened between Dixie and himself. The dull throbbing that emanated from the bridge of his nose only helped enforce that knowledge.

'_For a chick, that woman packs one hella right hook,'_ Leon thought to himself as he grimaced at the pain induced from the slight movements of his cheek bones.

If he tried hard enough, he could almost clearly remember what lead to the previous night's bar fight.

**FLASHBACK**

_He saw her as soon as he walked into the bar. She was sitting beside a head of blond hair that he would soon feel an extreme urge to destroy._

_As soon as Brian became distracted trying to get the bartender's attention, Leon grabbed Dixie by the arm and pulled her out into the alley behind the bar._

"_What the hell d'you think you're doin'?!"_

"_What's it look like?" She asked sweetly. "I'm tryin' to find a halfway decent lay to replace your lousy ass."_

"_So what, you go and start hitting on the asshole that tried to put my ass in jail?!"_

"'_s where you belong, ain't it, sugar?" Dixie said, her tone almost condescending._

"_Dont you 'sugar' me, Dixie." Leon snapped back. If he'd been one for hitting women, he'd have knocked Dixie clear into next month._

**END FLASHBACK**

Letty groaned and rolled over in her sleep, slowly waking.

The smell of him—an addictive blend of Coronas, sweat and engine oil—reached her nose, making her senses tingle.

She'd lay in Dominic's arms, fighting off sleep and re-memorizing the way his hands felt on her body.

When she finally wills herself to open her eyes, she looked at the clock, a bright fluorescent green 4:30 P.M. stared back at her.

She smiled to herself, imagining just how many ways she could invent to monopolize Dom's time in New York—however long he was staying before the boys began to turn on each other or their girls-of-the-moment had finally been grossed out by the guys' ability to live in their own filth the way they did.

Her stomach growled, reminding her that she and Dominic weren't quite as alone in their bed as they'd been before.

She quietly climbed from the bed, pulling the shirt she'd discarded from Dom over her head and padded down the stairs to the kitchen

Back in Mexico, Leon could still be found in his bed, having simply rolled over, burying himself in the sheets.

**FLASHBACK**

_Dixie batted her eyes, smiling a sweet yet sinister smile._

"_Wasn't plannin' on it. Why don' you go find that pretty little blond that was feelin' you up earlier and see if you can sweet talk her into your bed like ya did me?" she said slowly, digging a metaphorical knife further into his chest. He almost flinched, but he had enough control of himself not to._

"_I didn't sweet talk you into anything, Dix." Leon replied, slow and calculated. "You're a big girl; made your own decisions. Remember?"_

"_Right, right, like anyone's gonna believe that," Dixie retorted, almost sickeningly self-absorbed. "Much less a cop." She turned to leave but Leon grabbed her arm._

"_I didn't __**make**__ you do anything, Dixie." Leon growled. "Ex-cop by the way. He fucks everything up. Couldn't even keep his fucking job…"_

"_Really, now? That's why he still has his badge, right, Leon?" Dixie spat._

"_Look, Dix, I really don't give much of a shit about the snow man any more," Leon snarled, "or you for that matter. I didn't do __**shit**__ with Chelsea. We went out before, that's all. You blew everything out of proportion and acted like a spoiled little brat." He scoffed, "you wanna act that way? Fine. But I'm not the one who's gonna put up with you. You've fucked up royally."_

"_Better a spoiled brat than a serial player, Leon..." Dixie paused. "you know, my mama warned me about boys like you…" At this, Leon saw red._

"_Oh get the fuck over it Dix…I never pretended to be anything with you. You shoulda took your mama's advice." Leon was close to full-on shouting at her. "Stupid of you to get with me, really...don't you think?? Damn you must feel like an idiot."_

"_Only thing I feel like an idiot about, Leon," Dixie said, enunciating each word, "is lettin' myself think you actually gave a damn about me."_

"_Don't get it twisted Dix, I did care about you." Leon said, eerily calm. "But you don't seem to understand shit. I didn't do __**anything**__ with Chelsea. Because of my reputation you're thinking that I did do something…and that's all on me." He took a breath before continuing. "But it's __**not**__ my fault that you won't listen and really look at the big picture… if you were just a lay I woulda left your crazy ass a __**long time ago**__."_

"_Really, now…you two seem awful damn close for never havin' done anything…" Dixie seemed to be looking for a fight at this point._

"_We went out. Yes, I slept with her. That was it, I didn't call her, she didn't call me. That was then…there never was anything there, not really. Anyways when you saw her, that was the first time I'd seen her too." He explained, no longer caring if she believed him or not. _

"_In how long, exactly?"_

"_The last time I saw her was at the house for the party we threw after the races…I don't know…maybe 8, 9 months ago." He said, "But that dosen't matter…"_

"_Then what _**does**_ matter, Leon?" Dixie argued._

"_Nothin', apparently." Leon said, solemnly. "There's nothing that should matter."_

"_I dont even know that much about you! How the hell could I possibly think we actually had somethin' together when I know squat about you?"_

"_There never was," Leon answered. "But don't worry about it, Dix. Was nothin' serious," he said, looking away, "woulda never worked out anyway. Ya don't trust me. An' well," he said, gesturing with his hands, "I obviously can't trust __**you**__."_

"_Then you won't mind if I go back to flirtin' with Brian," she said, pausing before continuing, almost testing him. "Will you?"_

"_No problem." He ground out, glaring at her. "I'll go."_

"_Note to self: never fuck a would-be ex-con." Dixie muttered under her breath, "you'll only get your heart broken." She said, turning and walking away. Leon was silent, too wounded—emotionally and ego-wise—to speak. He was too angry and hurt, not that anyone could rightly blame him._

_Back inside, Brian offered to buy her a drink upon her return, but she refused, leaving shortly after Leon had._

**END FLASHBACK**


	17. Just Like a Pill

**Chapter Seventeen: **** Just Like A Pill**

Downstairs, Letty found the house emptier than she was used to, with no sign of Vince or Charlotte.

There was a bowl of fruit—mangoes, papaya and tangelos—sitting on the island in the middle of the kitchen. Letty filled a glass with O.J. and had a few pieces of fruit before returning to her bedroom.

He'd rolled over onto his back while she'd been gone, and as peaceful as he looked in his sleep, Letty still ached to touch him.

After emerging from a lengthy shower, she decided he'd slept long enough. He mumbled something in his sleep that only Letty could understand.

"It's about 5:30 in the afternoon…" she said, a smile working across her face.

"We slept all day?"

"All damn day…" Letty said, kissing him slowly.

"I love you…" Dom murmured against her lips, "…so much." She laughed and slowly pulled away.

"Hope you got enough sleep 'cause I got plans for your ass tonight."

"Oh, really, now?" Dom asked, sitting up and shifting so he was halfway on top of her. "And what if I decide I wanna _change_ your plans? What then, Letty-girl?" he kissed her softly, just enough to leave her both speechless and breathless in the same go.

"We got all fuckin' night for you to fuck me any way you please," Letty said, her nails digging into his back. "Long as I get to do my fair share of torturin' **you**." Her smile was devious and it only turned Dom on even more.

Back in Los Angeles, things were quite enough for the silence to start driving Mia crazy.

In the months since her family had fled to Mexico, Brian had tried to contact her seven different times.

Johnny'd survived, despite scrapes and a few broken bones, taking special interest in Mia.

Letty was probably showing by now, and it drove Mia crazy to know she was missing out on moments she'd always just assumed she'd be there for; a small tinge of jealousy rose at the fact that Charlotte was there—with Letty—caring for her the way Mia felt she should have been.

In a way, Mia was glad Charlie'd found them again. It had taken Vince's attention off of her and focused it elsewhere.

But in addition, Charlotte Callahan seemed to have put Mia back where she'd been in the team's teenage years—the tagalong little sister; or kid-down-the-street in Letty's case—listening to the older kids talk about things Mia knew nothing about.

She'd decided to call them; telling herself she needed to make up with Letty in case they ever returned to Echo Park.

"Hello?"

The voice that answered was unfamiliar.

"Casa Valencia?" Mia asked, unsure she had the right number.

"If you mean Team Toretto's hiding place, you got the right number, dependin' on who you're lookin' for." The voice told her.

"I'm lookin' for my brother, Dominic." Mia said, "Who is this?"

"Chelsea."

"Chelsea, Leon's Chelsea?"

"What is this, twenty questions?"

"Is my brother there or not?" Mia snapped.

"Leon said he went to New York; finally got his head straight and went to fix his shit with Letty." Mia couldn't keep the smile from her face.

"You got a number for the place in New York?" Chelsea rattled off the number as well as the address before Mia hung up the phone.

Charlie and Vince spent the day walking the streets of New York City, talking and catching up.

"So, you're tellin' me that Letty, the tomboy of **ALL** tomboys, actually watches soaps now?" Vince asked laughing. "I never thought I'd see the day…"

"Neither did I, but I guess she was distracting herself from…ya know." Charlie said, slurping the last of her drink "What about these fights I've been hearin' about, 'tween you an' dear old Dom-Dom?"

"Got the Job done." Vince grunted.

"Yeah, I guess it did."

"That redhead you lived with…"

"Dixie? What about her?"

"She, uh…she got a drug problem?" Charlotte stopped and turned to look at him.

"She used to…Why?" Vince hesitated before he spoke.

"What if I told you I thought she was usin' again?"

"I'd say she was too predictable for her own good." Charlotte said, "Dixie Rose Devereaux had a drug problem long before she'd met Charlotte. Adding Leon into the mix gave Dixie one more thing to balance, so hearing that she's using again doesn't really surprise me…" Silence, then— "Does Leon know?"

"I tried talking to him before me an' Dom left, but he just blew me off…"

"Nobody likes to hear that someone they care about has a drug problem, V." Charlie said softly.


	18. Eager Little

Chapter Eighteen:

Chapter Eighteen: Eager Little….

Letty could hear the shrill ring of the pone from where she lay—exhausted and sweat-covered, in Dominic's arms, praying that whoever was calling would change their minds or realise how early it was.

"who could be calling here at this hour, anyway?" Letty thought to herself. "nobody knows where we are…unless—" she shook the thought of Mia calling them from her mind as the phone rang a second time.

"You gonna get that?" she asked. Dom groaned and rolled over, pulling her even closer to him—if that was even possible. "Dom, what if it's your sister?" Letty tried again.

"My sister can call back. Later." He rumbled.

"She already has…" Letty supplied. "Twice."

"Just turn the fuckin' ringer off, then." He mumbled, rolling over onto his stomach, head buried beneath his pillow. He soon felt Letty's hands wandering across the muscles in his back.

She only did this for him; used her hands—hands that set his nerves on fire at the slightest contact—to ease out the kinks: every tension-hardened muscle down to the smallest twinge of aching muscle. Somehow, she was able to rub out even the deepest aches.

Letty remembered when Dom had torn his rotator cuff beating the hell outta Linder…she'd never seen him in that much pain before.

She shook the thoughts from her head. Instead, she let her mind wander back to their beginning —back when she'd been almost deadset on never having children; before that first kiss she'd shared with Dominic.

They'd been fighting about something, she couldn't remember what, probably something his father would have paddled him for. She'd slapped him for it, and was moving to strike again when he pinned her to the wall, arms above her head, kissing her.

She moaned into the kiss and received three more kisses. Their mouths never separating. And then one last agonizingly slow and sensual, almost apologetic kiss, his tongue grazing hers before he pulled away.

She rolled off of his back, her mouth moving to his ear.

"Roll over, baby…" she murmured, her fingers tickling at the skin just behind his earlobe. He complied and she resumed her place, straddling his hips.

She started slowly, kissing and nipping at his jaw, kissing and licking his neck.

She kissed his collarbone, down to his pecs, teasing his nipples before returning to kiss him, drawing a moan from him. Her lips trail down to his bellybutton, her tongue dipping into it. He grabbed for her arm, trying to pull her away.

She grabbed at his crotch, moaning as she pulled his hand over hers, rubbing harder against him. His hips ground into her hand, seeming to move almost of their own free will. He kissed her, moaning against the teasing of Letty's tongue.

"Mmmm…Letty, baby…wait…" her hips ground into his, completely diminishing his self-control. "Ugh…oh god…more…"

She murmured something inaudible to the naked ear, causing him to pull her roughly onto his lap, kissing her savagely.

"Mmm…baby…take that off…" he growled, pulling at her shirt as he moaned against her lips.

"Be my guest…" Letty laughed, "I got rid of yours…" she said between increasingly long kisses. "Your turn to return the favor…"

He pulled the hem of her shirt, tugging, yanking it off of her body.

"Fuck, Letty…can't even get some sleep…" he said, kissing her neck. "Dammit…" he tugged on her bra, sitting up, grabbing her ass. "Damn thing won't come off…" Letty sighed, her arms moving behind her back to unclasp her bra, slowly letting it fall, teasing Dom. His arms wrapped around her, nipping and suckling at her breasts, eagerly pulling off her shorts.

"You **are** an eager little bastard, aren't you?" Letty laughed, her hands moving to scratch gently at the back of Dom's scalp. His hands ran up and down her thighs. He simply moaned and began suckling harder. "What is it with you and your new obsession with my boobs, man?"

"Well, they're mine…" Dom growled, unzipping her shorts.

"I got an itch that needs scratching," Letty groaned, lifting herself from his lap. "Think you can help me out?"

"You always got an itch…" Dom licked her neck.

""m not talkin about that kinda itch, Dom…" she laughed, pulling his lips back to hers. The kiss was rough, almost demanding. She ground her hips into his, softly but enough so to make her point.

"'s what I meant…" Dom growled, groping at her rump, pushing his hips up into hers as he laid back. "Not complainin', though…"

She leant down and kissed him softly, pulling away to whisper against his lips.

"Ya know, as much as I love you in your boxers, they gotta go…" Dom groaned, hearing this.

"Well, you managed to get everything **else** off…" he said, his hands running through her hair.

"I love you…" She nipped at his neck, dragging his boxers away from his waist, her voice turning husky.

"Love you more…" he whispered, lifting his hips as he rolled over, kissing her neck.

"Used to drive me crazy when I wasn't the center of attention…" she said, her nails scratching softly at his neck. "But I got what I want now…" she said, nibbling on his lip, sucking softly.

"Used to?" he slapped her ass and kissed her shoulder at the same time.

"You know what I meant, before I got you to myself…'fore I got my world rocked the first time we kissed…" Dom moved to kiss her lips and she ducked her head to nip his collarbone, kissing down to his nipple, teasing it.

"Fuckin' tease…" Dom groaned. He grabbed her hands, pinning them above her head, kissing her forcibly.

"I love you…" Letty moaned, grinding her hips against his and teasing his calves with her toes.

"Show me…" Dom's free hand ran through her hair, kissing her ear softly.

"Dom…" Letty nipped his ear, whispering, " Make love to me…"

He smiled, kissing down her neck, across the width of her chest, his hands on her hips. He yanked on her panties, tugging them down her legs. He kissed her stomach, down to his thighs, rubbing his stubbled cheek against the sensitive flesh of the inside of Letty's thigh.

"Goddamnit…" she gasped, jerking slightly in surprise. "That stubble of yours is gonna kill me…" He bit at her thighs, his tongue trailing behind as his hands danced up her ribs.

Letty sighed, her arms moving behind herself, unclasping her bra, letting the bra fall slowly, teasing Dominic. His arms wrapped around her, nipping and sucking at her breasts, eagerly pulling her shorts off.

"You Bare/B an eager little bastard, aren't you?" Letty laughed, her hands moving to the back of Dom's scalp, scratching lightly. "Guela's always had the worst timing…ever."

Dom moaned against her breasts, sucking harder, running his hands up and down her thighs.

"What is it with you and your new obsession with my breasts, man?!" Letty laughed.

"Well, they're mine…" Dom's teeth unzipped her shorts, pulling them down.

Letty lifted her hips slightly so he could slide the shorts over her hips, groaning into his ear.

"I got an itch…" she moaned, "that needs scratchin'...think you can help me out?"

"You always got an itch…" Dom licked her neck.

"'m not talkin' about that kinda itch, Dom…" Letty laughed, puling his lips back to hers. The kiss was rough, almost demanding. She ground her hips into his, softly but she made her point.

"'s what I meant…" Dom growled, groping her rear, pushing his hips up into hers as he laid back. "Not complainin', though."

"Ya know, as much as I love you in your boxers," Letty leaned down, kissing him softly. She pulled away and whispered in his ear. "'re in the way."

"Well, you managed to get everything **else** off…" Dom groaned, running his hand through her hair.

"I love you…" Letty murmured as she nipped at his neck, dragging his boxers away from his waist as her voice turned husky.

"Love you more…" Dom whispered, lifting his hips as he rolled them over, kissing Letty's neck.

"Used t' drive me crazy when I wasn't the center of attention…" Letty said quietly, running her nails over his neck as she scratched lightly. "But I got what I want now." She nipped at his lower lip, sucking lightly.

"Used to?" Dom echoed, slapping her ass and kissing her shoulder at the same time.

"You know what I meant…before I got you to myself…before I got my world rocked the first time we kissed…" she said as he moved to kiss her. She ducked her head to nip his collarbone. She kissed her way down to his nipple, teasing it.

"Fuckin' tease…" Dom groaned, grabbing her hands and pinning them above her head, kissing her forcibly.

"I love you…" Letty whispered as she ground her hips against his. Her toes teased the skin on his calves.

"Show me…" Dom growled, running his free hand through her hair, kissing her ear softly.

She nipped his earlobe, whispering, "Dom…make love to me."

Dom smiled, kissing down her neck…across the expanse of her chest, his hands planted firmly on her hips.

He tugged her panties down her legs, kissing her stomach and her thighs, running his stubbly cheek along the inside of her thigh.

"Goddamnit…" Letty gasped, jerking out of surprise. "That stubble of yours is gonna kill me."

Dominic bit her thigh softly, followed by his tongue as his hands danced softly up her ribs.

"You keep that fuckin' teasing up and you're gonna be up all night makin' it up to me..."

"You asked for it…" Dom said, moving up her body. He pushed her legs further apart, making room for himself.

"Bring it on, tough guy…" Letty said, kissing him roughly.

Dom thrust in quickly, with no warning, still holding her hands prisoner.

"God… I think I like you playin' rough…" Letty moaned softly at the feeling of him filling her completely. Her arms fought against his hold.

He pushed her arms higher on the bed, relentless. He thrust in hard, deliberate strokes, nuzzling her neck.

Letty groaned at the combination of Dom's stubble and his hard deliberate strokes.

"C'mon, baby..." she whispered, nipping roughly at his upper ear. "'s no fun if I can't keep up with you..."

He moaned, thrusting in a bit harder.

"I like havin' my way…" he said, sniffing at her hair and neck.

Letty moved, trying to avoid Dom's assault on her neck.

"Thought you liked me diggin' my nails into your back…" she said, pouting slightly.

"Been teasin' me too much." Dom answered, moving in deliberately, nipping and licking her neck. He tilted his hips up.

"Seriously, Dom." she said, moving her knee to almost within range of inflicting severe groin pain. "I'm not into this "bondage" shit."

Dom kissed her ear, finally letting go of one of her hands.

Letty snaked her arm around his neck, pulling him to her lips.

"I love you…" she said, sucking on his upper lip.

Dominic ran a possessive hand down her back and caressed her ass. He pulled her in tighter, making his thrusts deep and slow.

"Right there…ohmigod…" Letty moaned, sucking at his neck.

"Mmmm…shit…so tight…" Dominic moaned, repeating the same slow thrusts.He pulled one of her knees out farther, his thrusts going deeper, becoming slightly harder.

"Ain't never done that before…I like it…" Letty moaned. "…Where the hell did you learn to do that with my knees?"

"'ve done that before…" Dominic panted. "You were probably too worked up to notice." He let her other hand go and pulled her leg over his shoulder, thrusting even harder.

Letty pulled him to her for a long, slowly sensual kiss.

"I love you. I love you. I love you." She moaned softly. "Feels so good…"

Her noises spurred him on. He cupped her breasts and kissed down the valley between them. She bucked her hips.

"God…you keep doin' that I might just keep you here all damn night…" she moaned.

He tugged a nipple into his mouth, angling her hips up. His thrusts slowed as he rubbed against her spot, so slow but so hard.

Letty arched into him, arms wrapped around him. She clung to him as she felt him drawing her closer and closer to the edge.

"Dammit, Lett…" he felt her muscles clench tightly, making his need for her take over. He thrust into her, moving her other leg over his shoulder, pinning her down.

"I love it when you're rough with me like this." Letty moaned, her eyes glazing over.

Dominic screwed his eyes shut. It was too much for him to watch her move like that. He grasped her hips in a painful clutch, kissing her leg as he rubbed her clit.

Letty gasped breathily, whimpering when Dominic pulled away.

"You're such a fuckin' tease." Letty bucked against his hand, groaning at her lack of release. "I need you…"

Dominic nipped the inside of her thigh, now moving with devotion to Letty's orgasm. He moved so hard and fast, his thumb circling the bundle of nerves.

"Oh, god… so close." Letty gasped, "Dammit."

Dominic leaned down, kissing her hard. He could feel her now, almost there. He tilted her hips up a bit slightly…now he hit her spot. His pace was almost bruising.

"God, fuck…so hot…"

She clung to him now, going completely limp in his arms. Her cries of release were muffled in his muscular shoulder, panting lightly against his collar bone.

"Ahhh…god…" he could see stars. He nuzzled her neck, the smell of her finally sending him over the edge.

Letty rested her forehead against his chest. Her chest still heaved as she tried to catch her breath.

Dominic panted, running one hand through Letty's hair, tilting her face up.

"Love you…"

"Love you more…" she rasped back. She snuggled against him, savoring his body heat. "Think that mighta been a personal best for you, baby…"

Dominic smiled, lying on his side, pulling her into his embrace.

"Well thank you Mrs. I'm-always-horny-Toretto.'' He said, rubbing her back.

"I didn't hear you complaining earlier. you know you love every minute of it." She said, biting his nipple, teasing him. "Maybe I'll even try out that pool with you sometime…"

"That's not even a question…" Dominic groaned. "You will be fucked in that pool."

"You promise?" Letty teased. "What about the hot tub down in the basement? And did I mention the master bath has a whirlpool Jacuzzi bath?"

"Don't believe me?" Dom asked, brow raised. She shrugged.

"Your little friend…" she snaked her hand between his legs,"here, seems to be damn ready to go again…"

"When isn't he ready?" Dominic grinned. "…gonna have to try all those places babe…wish we had an outdoor pool."


	19. Danger Danger

**Chapter Nineteen**

A few days later found Dominic & Letty at her OB's office

"So...you a'right...?" Letty asked softly. Dom had been unusually quiet since the appointment ended fifteen minutes earlier. He remained silent, left arm propped on the car door, the right firmly anchored to the steering wheel. His mind was a million miles away. "Been pretty quiet, baby...." she tried again. "Baby? You hear me?" She reached out, her hand resting on Dom's bicep, thumb rubbing soft, sensual circles.

"Hmm?" Dom jumped slightly, snapping from his reverie as he turned to look at her. "What...?"

"Just asked if you were a'right." Letty said, smiling at him. "Been pretty quiet since we left the doc's office..." Dom nodded, blinking a few times, putting a smile on his face.

"Yeah, yeah...'m okay..."

"You sure? You c'n talk t' me..." Letty said. "Y'know that, right?" Dom rubbed a hand over his forehead.

"Just..." He shrugged. "I don' know, so..."

Letty sighed, settling back into her seat. her position mirrored Dom's, but her hands rested on her belly as she stared out the passenger-side window.

"Sorry..." Dom murmured, as he turned to the left. They passed a small pre-school and the kids on the playground caught his eye.

"No big..." Letty sighed, shaking her head.

Dominic reached over and took Letty's hand in his, placing it on his knee. As they stopped at a red light, his fingers ran softly over her knuckles. His eyes were glued to the playground filled with kids, moms and teachers.

"That'll be you..." Dom whispered.

"Ain't no soccer mami, Toretto..." Letty said, not looking at her fiancée. "Thought you were happy, Dominic..." Letty said, eying him now.

"Just realized..." he shook his head, tightening his grip on her hand. "I'm getting' a chance again..."

"It's not like you ever really _lost _me, Dom..." Letty said, shaking her head, still staring out the window.

"I can make things better..." Dom said, "make you happy...him...her..."

"Your father would be proud of you either way, Dom... You made right on your mistakes...forget th' past or life is gonna pass you by..." Letty said, her hand moving to stroke the nape of his neck. "I love you..." she whispered.

"This is really happening..." Dom whispered, smiling as he brought Letty's hand to his lips. "I didn't think it would...that I deserved it..."

"It's our future, Dominic..." Letty smiled at him. "Don't know if I'd be this happy with anyone else..."

Dom sighed and drove off, still watching the kids playing on the playground, thinking how beautiful Letty would look chasing after a little Dom...a little Letty...

"Just hit me, that's all..."

"Lemme guess...the heartbeat...?" Letty smiled again, half tempted to laugh.

"No shit."

"Join the club, baby..." Letty laughed. "That's why I started cryin' when I called and told you..."

"Had no clue..." Dom smirked. "Figured it was just the hormones..."

"This is...so different from how I imagined it..." Letty said. "I mean, yeah, I always pictured it with _you _but...never like this..."

"Whaddya mean?" Dom asked.

"Never dreamed we'd be runnin' from the cops or jackin' trucks like we were..."

"No..." Dom said, frowning. "Was never on my agenda for things to go like that."

"But at this point, I wouldn't change it..." Letty said, rubbing her belly. "For anything." Dom reached over and copied her movements.

"You're getting' big..." he said. "Can't wait till she's out...runnin' around an' causin' chaos..."

"Oughta be here by Mother's Day..." Letty said, smiling softly.

"Guess I've got my gift covered, huh?" Dom snickered.

"If you never wanna get laid again..." Letty snorted. "Baby's comin' in March...whatcha gonna do 'bout March an' April, papi...?"

"I'm givin' you a child..." Dom laughed. "What more could ya want?"

"Actually, I think its the other way around," Letty retorted. "I'm the one who's gonna be in labor, baby."

"But without me..." he countered, eyes trailing over Letty's pregnant body. "None of _that..._" he pointed to her belly. "Would have been possible."

"Wanna sleep on the couch?" Letty threatened.

"I'm just playin' with you..." Dom laughed. "'sides, you need me to keep you warm."

"Uh-huh..." Letty rolled her eyes.

"thought I was gonna throw up when I saw her..." Dom said, locking his fingers with hers.

"Did that for the last 3 months...daily." Letty said. He'd get no sympathy from her.

"I'm sorry..." Dom murmured, kissing her fingers.

"I know..." Letty said softly.

"We need t' pick up vitamins?" Dom asked. "Or are ya good? Doc said somethin'..."

"She's just makin' sure I take 'em..." Letty laughed. "I got more than enough."

"A'right..." Dom said. "You hungry?" His tone was hopeful. Letty paused, considering. She nodded.

"Whaddya wan'?" Dom asked, turning right this time.

"Chocolate." Letty said, not missing a beat.

"That it?" Dom laughed. "I could go for Chinese..."

"Eggrolls?" Letty asked, now paying total attention.

"Mm-hm...kung pao chicken," Dom said. "Shrimp fried rice...egg foo yong...fuck, I'm starvin..."

"I'm eatin' for two, here, Dommy..." Letty smirked.

"All the more reason to pig out." he drove 3 blocks and turned left. "There it is...eat at home?" Letty nodded as Dom parked the car.

"Come with me?" Letty sighed. And mulled it over before nodding her consent

"Gotta pee, anyway..."

"Come on..." Dom said, opening the car door.

"So fucking good..." Letty said around the food in her mouth as she gnawed on an eggroll.

"Maybe if I'd had a taste..." Dom said, licking his upper lip. "But you claimed 'em...no sharin'..." he muttered.

"Truce?" Letty asked, holding out an eggroll.

"I think I have the symptoms, too..." Dom said, snatching the offered eggroll.

"Symptoms?" Letty echoed. "What symptoms?"

"Nausea...hungry...horny..." he answered, taking a bite out of his eggroll.

"Char said somethin' 'bout sympathy pains..." Letty muttered, shrugging. "Should ask her..." Dom sighed, laying back against the couch, hands rubbing his stomach.

"So full...ya done?" Letty cocked her head, considering.

"For now...but what I want _now..._" she said, giving him a devious look.

"Think we should burn off some calories..?" Dom asked, a grin on his face.

back in Mexico, Dixie was nowhere to be found. Nor was Brian O'Connor. Casa Valencia was empty except for Danica, Jesse, Leon an' Chelsea.

"Toretto's sister called..." Chelsea said, wrapping her arms around Leon's shoulders.

"Yeah?"

"Was lookin' for her brother..." Chelsea explained. "Told her he was in the Apple...with V an' their women..." Leon laughed and leaned back into her.

"The boss is 'bout to be a dad, Chels..." he said quietly.

"No shit?"

"Looks like that last party back in LA was good for Dom..._an' _Letty..."

"Letty?" Chelsea sounded surprised. "She an' Dom workin' things out?"

"Yeah...V says they're gettin' hitched an' shit, too..."

"Thats gonna go over well with Camille..." she groaned. "Especially when she finds out about the baby...

"You think?" Leon joked. "She's a skank, wha's the worst she could do?"

"She might be a whore but that doesn't mean shes a stupid whore..." Chelsea said. "Usually she'll just start a nasty rumor or somethin' like that for revenge, but since its Dom and Letty? God only knows what she'll do to get back at Letty..."

That was the last thing Leon wanted to hear, knowing Mia was alone in LA.

"You think she'd go to the house?"


	20. That Was Then, This is NOW

**Chapter Twenty: **

Back in New York, Charlotte and Vince were finally having it out.

"What are you doin' here, Vince?" she asked, sitting in the arm chair across from him. "I mean, I know why Dom's here, but..." she shrugged.

"Wanted to see you...'s all..." Vince said, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"Oh...okay...um..." Charlie cringed inside. "Well, are you hungry?" she asked, trying not to sound like such a bitch.

"I could eat..." Vince said, smiling.

"Anything specific? I'm still not the **best **cook in the world, but hey, I ain't killed anyone." Charlie said, laughing awkwardly. "...yet."

"Whaddya got?" Vince asked, wondering why Charlie was being so weird.

"Uhm...should be some Chinese left. None of letty's shrimp fried rice,though..." Charlie said. "Woman wolfed that down like no other..."

"Anything else?" Vince laughed, following her into the kitchen, admiring her ass.

"I'm not sure, but I know there's no booze..." she laughed. "Uhm...might be cereal or somethin' in a cabinet. My gramma stocked this place up when I told her Letty an' I were comin' up, so I dont know what all she put in this place..."

"You mind?" V asked, pointing at the fridge.

"Nope. Help yourself..." she answered. Vince turned to the fridge, looking over its contents.

"Why havent you called?" he asked, still studying the fridge's contents.

"Uh...well... I dont exactly have an answer for that, Vince..." Charlie said slowly, calmly.

"Spent most of the trip here catching up with Letty, tryin' to keep her an' Dom-Dom from goin' thermo-nuclear and breakin' up for good... I was gonna call..."

'Liar. You're lying.' Vince thought, his hand tightening on the fridge handle.

"Not once? You couldn't call ONCE?! Letty called Dom--"

"Uh, no... I made her call him." Charlie countered. "I talked to you...when you asked if Letty would talk to you when she didn't wanna talk to Dom?"

"FOR THEM!" Vince roared. "You called for **them**. Didn't ask for me, didn't ask how I was..."

"Yeah... I guess..." Vince snatched a carton of rice.

"And now you're gonna do the whole grudge-holding, moody shit, right?" Vince shrugged, looking charlie over from head to toe.

"Just wondering why my girlfriend doesnt seem all that elated to see me..."

"I dont have an answer for that, V... I mean, you show up in the ER **years **after the last time I saw you, and you wanna pick up like nothin' happened?!"

"What, you regretting seeing me again?" Charlotte could feel Vince's mood souring.

_'Don't do this, Charlie, baby...don't...'_

"I didn't say that. I mean that I cant just go back to how things were before I left. Its NOT normal!" Charlie bit back.

Vince nodded, moving to the microwave to heat his kung pao. He leaned against the counter, arms crossed as he stared at a spot on the floor.

"I get it."

"And yet I get the feeling you're mad at me..." Vince looked up at her, his gaze hard.

"Why would I be mad at you? I mean, I thought we were okay; you made me believe we were together...that we were gonna have a go at it again...I bust Dom's balls, tellin' him he aint comin up here without me, wanting to see you. But now?! Now you're sayin' we're just...whatever the fuck we are...why the fuck would I be mad?!" Vince roared.

"Even if we **ARE **together, we'd have to start over ! Rebuild...that kinda shit..." Charlie said, trying to be the rational one.

"Then why are you so distant?!" Vince said, his voice soft. "You're not all here, Charlie..." 

"Do NOT put words in my mouth, Vincent."

"Then explain it to me!" Vince said, a hurt look in his eyes. "Our 'situation'."

"When I left, things were BAD... I didn't have a choice whether I left or not. Now its been six years. What am I supposed to do?"

"When you left, you thought I didn't love you...that I'd fucked you over..."

"I'd just seen you with Edwin's sister, for christ's sake!"

"I didn't fuck her!"

"Did I say ya did?! I didn't know WHAT to think Vince!"

"You accused me of doing it...wouldn't listen to me. Things were so **royally **fucked when you left."

"And what was I supposed to think?!"

"Believe ME! I loved you, I wouldn't do that."

"_Loved_?"

"I don't want to love you if you're not going to love me back..."

"You want me? You're gonna have to give me a damn good reason why."

"You dont want to..." Vince frowned, looking away. "Admit it."

"I dont know if I do or not! I dont even know YOU that well anymore, V!"

"Do you love me?" Vince ran his hands over his face, turning his back to her.

"I did...I dont know about now..."

_Did...used to. Did before...doesn't now. Sonofabitch! Vince's back straightened, shoulders squaring._

"You shoulda told me...before we left for Mexico..."

"Vince...i loved you then and i'm sure I could again, but i'd have to fall in love with you all over again."

_She doesn't love you..._

It rang through his ears, making his chest ache.

"When did it stop?"

"Vince. I could love you again but you're gonna have to EARN it!"

"HOW?!"

"Do I look like I know?! Get creative, man!"

_Creative...I'll fucking show you creative..._

Vince turned and stalked over to Charlotte. He backed her up against the counter, arms holding her in place as his lips crushed hers.

"Vince." Charlie pulled back. "That's a little TOO creative. I meant, like, slow it down..."

Vince kissed the tip of her nose, the skin just under her eyes, hands skimming down her back.

"Missed you..."

"How so...?"

"Your face...your lips..." His fingers traced over her bottom lip.

_So soft..._

"Waking up an' seein' you next to me..."

"You snore..." Charlie said, trying not to laugh.

"So do you..."

"Uh, no I dont."

"Yeah, babycakes...you do...jus' a lil bit...when you're really tired..."

"You called Letty fat..."

"What? When?" Vince asked, running his hands down to the small of her back."

"I dont know...she said somethin' about it in her sleep..."

"When?" V laughed. "No I didn't..."

"I dont know!" Charlie laughed. "You got boozy mornin' breath...


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter Twenty-One:**

_Wanna kiss you...hmmm..._

"You love it..."

"And you're horny."

"Like you mind..." Vince pushed slightly against her. "You smell good..." he growled, burying his nose in her hair.

"I ain't gonna fuck you, V..."

"I know...but you will...." His hand moved her hair from her shoulder and pushed the sleeve of her shirt aside. "Very soon..." His lips brushed over hers.

_Damn, Charlie...so damn soft..._

"Vince...go jerk off, boo. I ain't horny." Vince licked her neck and ran his hand through her hair. "V. Cut it out." He huffed and pulled away.

"Fine..." he went to retrieve his food.

"Hey..."

"Don't, Charlie...just don't..."

Charlie pulled him back to her and kissed him, soft and slow. Vince didn't get the chance to touch her before she pulled away.

"Tell me to back off an' then you do _that_..." Vince scowled, hands on his hips.

"That....was for backin' off when I asked you to..."

"What do I get when I do my chores?" Vince asked, grinning at her.

"Maybe a little more...?"

"Hmm...better get started on the laundry, then..."

"You? Do Laundry? Damn, Mia did a number on you, huh...?"

"Had to get fed..." Vince shrugged and rolled his eyes.

"She bribed you with the lasagna, huh...?"

"You bet your ass she did...girl can really throw down in the kitchen, though..." Vince muttered, "So can Lett...when she wants to..."

"Oh really? It's been a while but I seem to remember Letty FLUNKED home ec..."

"Trust me..." Vince laughed. "She can whip up some pretty good stuff...she cooked this awesome chicken once...Dom was livid, wan'ed to get back on his bad side again..." Vince grabbed a fork and dug into his rice. "Worked..."

"What'd she do?"

"There was this guy...been around for awhile...always after Letty. She was nice to him. Dom didn't like it...then at the races, the dude went over to her when Dominic wasn' around...got a little too close to her...she didn't push him away like she did most fuckers...poor fucker wound up with a broken nose 'cause you don't touch what belongs to Dominic Toretto...he accused her of bein' too friendly..." Vince shrugged.

"And Letty didn't kick his ass to the couch?"

"There was a major blow-up...she didn't know what to do 'cause the guy was a good friend...wasn't even trying to get into her pants...Dom told her he didn't want the fucker around, she told him it wasn't like that...Dom locked himself in his room, thought she'd been wanting out, saw the guy as competition..."

"And?"

"We thought they were over...everyone was shook up about it, even Edwin an' Hector...it was so fucked up...you know how Dom is...possessive as hell; well with Letty anyway...but everything worked out. We got some kick-ass chicken outta her an' everything was okay between 'em...i guess..."

"She never said anything about it." Charlie shrugged. "Hector an' Edwin got freaked about it? Damn...must'a been bad..."

"They were having problems...before." Vince said finally. "Then the guy...Mark; he was really hung up on her...bad memories...we were scared as hell she was gonna leave...or that Dom would do something stupid. Locked him an' her in their room for a whole day..."

"And...?" Charlie was scared to ask.

"Yelling. Crying..." Vince looked away. "Broken shit..."

"Wow...they had THE bust up and I wasn't there...it explains her attitude at the hospital, though..."

"Things got better..." Vince nodded. "Went back to normal. But Dom was that much more on her back...constantly wanting to be around her...he was scared after what happened; then the heists, a while after that, but still...she wanted to call you...was tired of having to lean on Mia...she went through a lot, too..."

"And I was too busy to check my messages...What happened with Mia?"

"Dom's her brother...Letty's like her sister...so she had to deal with both of 'em...an' the store...school; all of us..." Vince shrugged.

"And then me takin' off for Princeton..."

"We missed you...I hated you for a while..."

"I hated you, too..."

"I'm sorry if I hurt you..." his gaze fell to the floor. "You gotta believe me, Charlie...I didn't do nothin'..." He turned on his stool to face her, his eyes pleading for her to believe him.

"So what're we gonna do now, Vince? Start over?"

"I want you...to want us..."

"We can't go on like six years ago never happened; like I haven't NOT seen you in six years...we're gonna have to rebuild at some point." He turned to Charlie, reaching for her hands.

"I'm willing to try...to rebuild."

"Alright, then..." Vince smiled and brought her hand to his face, stroking her skin.

"Missed your smile..."

"Yeah?"

"Your lips...your laugh..."

"Is that all...?"

"Your hands..." he kissed the tips of her fingers. "The way you smell..." Charlie laughed.

_Beautiful_ Vince thought to himself.

"There it is..."he stroked her cheek with his thumb. "My smile..."

Leon groaned as he slowly woke up, a smile working across his lips as his eyes took in Chelsea's naked form lying in the bed beside him.

Chelsea had always been good in bed, always up for anything a guy could think of...and Leon was finding that fine line between 'skank' and 'girlfriend' becoming more and more blurred, the more time he spent around this girl.

Chelsea stirred slightly in the bed next to him.

"You 'wake...?"


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter Twenty Two:**

_So beautiful..._ Dom thought as he brought his hand to letty's belly, rubbing slow circles into her skin.

"Letty..."

"Hm?" She groaned softly, not wanting to wake up.

"Time to get up..." he murmured, kissing up and down letty's neck, his hands stroking from hip to hip.

"Don' wanna get up..." Letty muttered, shaking her head.

"Please...? For me?"

"Why?"

"'Cause...I'm up..." his fingers worked her shirt up to her waist, revealing her belly. "So you should be, too..."

"Uh-uh...'m exhausted, Dom..." Dom sighed, though his hands kept wandering.

"How many you want...? After this one?"

"Dunno..." She shrugged. "You?" 

"Mmm...like eight, nine..." Dom kissed her chin. "Eight sounds good..."

"You're insane..." Letty laughed.

"Take this off..." Dom tugged at her shirt. "Not gona do nothin', just take it off..." She sat up, pulling her top over her head and tossed it to the side before settling back into Dom's side.

"You don't want a whole baseball team?" Dom asked, moving to lay halfway on top of her, playing with her hair.

"Nine?" Letty laughed. "Why nine?"

"Never had brothers..." Dom murmured, kissing the skin over Letty's heart. "Mia was...Mia...couldn't throw her scrawny ass around..."

"So what, you wanna throw this baby around?" Letty asked, still laughing.

"IF she's anything like you, she's gonna kick the fuck outta me 'fore I get the chance t' throw her around..." Dom said, laying his head on her chest.

"I dont kick you like that..." Letty laughed.

"You used to..." Dom laughed back. "She's gonna be hell..."

"An' you're not gonna be able to fight with her like you used t' do with me..."

"I know..." his thumbs traced her ribs. "Tha's why she needs 9 brothers..."

"Dont know that I got the patience for nine..." Letty laughed again.

"We'll see..." He said. "At least two more after her..."

"Yeah?" Letty smiled softly. "Think I c'n do that..." Dom nodded as he looked at her. He moved to lie on top of her, careful not to crush her, his elbows by her head to support his weight.

"Any names?" 

"Haven't really thought about it." Letty said, shaking her head. "You?" 

"Not really...we were pickin' out names...Vince an' them...we were pretty drunk, though..." Dom laughed. "Jesse suggested Charlie an' Vince busted out cryin'..."

"Never thought you an' V would ever cry...an' to think I missed it..."

"He was cryin' so hard...felt bad for 'im...was pretty funny, now that I think about it..." Dom wrapped a finger around a loose curl of Letty's hair. "You think she'll look like us?"

"She'll be lucky if she looks like Mia..." Letty smirked.

"Can see Mia now...bawlin' her eyes out...you were a pretty lil girl...wild hair an' all..."

"I was a mess..."

"You were beautiful...even V said, I 'member once..._I'll hang out with her, but not with Mia...she's tough, don't cry an' she's pretty_..."

"Seems tha's what V wants...pretty, ballsy an' doesn't cry..."

"He had a crush on you..."

"No..." Letty looked at him in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

"_Why d's she play with you more than me?_" Dom mocked as he nodded, grinning like a fool.

"Who?" 

"Vince w'd go on an' on, _'Letty doesn't play with me no more...'_"

"Only had eyes f'r you, Dommy..."

"Loved you...even then..."

"Is that why I was a'ways the one you tackled hardest in hood football games?"

"Ya caught me..." Dom laughed. "Never let anyone hit ya but me...was the only one 'lowed to plow y'r ass to the ground..."

"An' I never even had the ball..." Letty laughed. Dom nuzzled his face against her neck as he laughed.

"You would get SOO mad...an' then I had to beg you to come over after..."

"And you'd sit on me..." Letty laughed.

"You loved it..." Dom smirked. "_Dominic, move your heavy ass..._"

"You DID weigh twice as much as me..."

"I dont want any type of Vince or Dominic around my baby...no little boys..."

"Guess that means no Uncle V for this one, huh?"

"Not what I meant...I don't wanna have those type'a influences on my baby..." Dom murmured. "Can you imagine...oh god...no...uh-uh...I don't want lil shits around her..."

"'s gonna be hard to do...'specially in New York..."

"Got my work cut out for me, then...hopefully she won't be as stubborn as you..." Letty rolled her eyes. "Or as smart-mouthed...bad-tempered..."

"Sounds like you're talkin' 'bout yourself, Dommy..."

"Guess you're right..." Dom rubbed his stubbled face against Letty's cheek. "I'll be fine until she turns 14, 15...I'm lockin' her up in a tower then..."

"She'll just sneak out like I did..."

"Shit. I'm gonna pay for all the things I did with you..." Dom groaned.

"Yeah, you are...every time you took me out in the middle of the night...in your Chevy?"

"Dont remind me.." He groaned. "Out by the tracks..."

"I thought my dad was gonna kill you..."

"That black eye was pretty bad..."

"Thought I did that?"

"You did..." He bit down on her neck. "That shit hurt..."

"Its not my fault you had bad timing to get in the middle of me fightin' V..."

"Whatever..." He smiled against her neck, bringing his hand to the slight curve of her belly. "You sure made up for it, though..."

"Yeah?"

"Had fun _all_ night..."

"Yeah..."

"I wasn't mad at you in the mornin'...that was some **nice** makin' up..."

"Yeah...you weren't so bad yourself, tough man..."

"Used to pick fights...just so we could make up..."

"Wasn't sure what you liked more for a while...yellin' at me or makin out with me..."

"Havin' you here...where you belong..." He kissed Letty's ear. "That's what I like...in my arms...my bed..."

"Like y'r arms..."

"I want you here..always...with me..." He wrapped an arm around her waist, his forehead against hers.

"Thats what I want...you..."

"I'm scared..."

"Yeah?"

"You'll love her more..." Dom pulled her closer to him, burying his face in her neck.

"Like you're not gonna be wrapped around her finger from Day One..." Letty teased.

"You'll pay her more attention...I know...crazy to feel jealous but... I dont know..."

"I love your psycho ass..." Letty kissed him softly.

"But you'll love her more..."

"Dom..." Letty sing-songed. "Dommy..."

"What?" Dom muttered.

"How long we been fuckin'...?"

"Since you were sixteen?" Dom shrugged. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"Its been eight years that I've been nuts about you...a baby won't change that..."

"Promise?"

"Dom!"

"Better keep your promise..." he kissed her. "No take backs."

"Don't plan on it, Dommy."

"When are we gonna shop for baby shit?"

"Dunno..." Letty shrugged. "You wanna? Thought I'd wind up doin' it with Charlie or somethin'..."

"I wanna help...with the crib..."

"Yeah?" Letty grinned again.

"You think they make, like, car cribs?" Dom asked, smiling so his eyes lit up. "Like those race car beds?"

"Oh, god..." Letty laughed. "Some how, I dont think your daughter's gonna want a race car bed, baby..."

"Why not?" Dom looked crushed.

"Dom, baby...either way I dont think y'r daughter's gonna be able to sleep in a big-girl bed just yet..."

"Yeah...but like a crib... I got research to do..."

"Let Jesse do it, baby..."

"Fine..."

"What, you really want to do it?" Dom grinned at her wriggling his eyebrows.

"Jesse's gonna shit himself..."

"Uh, babe...talkin' 'bout Jesse wasn't what I had in mind...." He rubbed against her.

"Thought you wanted to research baby beds...?" Letty asked, oblivious to what Dom meant.

"He's probably busy..." Dom pouted trying to change the subject. "We dont wanna disturb him."

"But you seemed so excited about the beds..."

"You said she wouldn't want a race car bed..." Dom grumbled. "Why wouldn't she?"

"Mia didn't want one."

"So? Mia's Mia...my baby'll want one..." Dom said confidently.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah...she's Dominic Toretto's kid...she'll love it..."

"Hey, you're right..." Dom grinned again. "But you gotta consider she might not..."

"Yeah, okay..."

"I mean, hell, she could go through her girly, pink-loving stage while she's little..." Letty shrugged.

"Could always have a pink, girly car bed..."

You got a dozen other chances t' get your sons, Dominic..." Letty laughed.

"A dozen...? Now we're talkin'..." Dom kissed her. "Seems like I'll get my football team after all."

"It's a figure of speech, papi.." Letty laughed.

"Can't wait till she's here..." Dom murmured, kissing Letty's jaw.

"Yeah? You gonna help out with 2am feedings if there's bottles?"

"She'll need you for that..." Dom said, palming her breasts.

"I'm not sure you'll wanna hear my solution to that one..."

"What?" Dom's lips stilled.

"Breast pump."

"Ewwwww."

"See? Told ya." Letty shrugged. "Can stock up on bottles in the fridge so I can sleep at night while you feed the munchkin sometimes..."

"Hmm..." Dom inspected her chest. "I guess..."

"That was a fast reversal..."

"I DID have fun makin' her..." Dom said. "Gotta take care'a her sometimes, too..."

"Damn straight."

"It's still weird though..." He kissed the top of her breast. "The pump thingy..."

"Would you rather be molestin' me an' then get it in your mouth?" Dom looked up at her, face scrunched.

"'s weird."

"Take your pick, papi..."

"Its not gonna come out _now_, is it?"

"Probably not til closer to my due date..."

"Hmmm." He stuck out his tongue. "Then I can still play..."

"Dom...what's mia's middle name?" He trailed kisses up the valley between her breasts.

"Mmh. Leah..."

"Whaddabout that...? For the baby?"

"You like it?"

"It's pretty..."


	23. Chapter 23

[B][U]Chapter Twenty Three:[/U] [/B]

A week later, Vince and Dom were out looking at garages around the city, for sale or not. This gave Charlie a chance to catch up with Letty.

Letty trudged into the kitchen, hands rubbing at her lower back.

"Rough night?" Charlie asked, placing a glass of OJ and prenatal vitamins in front of the darker girl.

"Hardly." Letty grunted. "Between this baby moving all the time and Dom's inability to shut the fuck up, I hardly slept!"

"I think he's just excited about bein' a daddy." Charlie laughed. "Should'a seen 'im this morning…fucker was whistling when he walked into the kitchen. I thought he was gonna start bustin' a move or somethin…" This nearly made Letty choke on her juice as she swallowed her vitamins.

"Dominic Toretto DOES NOT dance! And he DEFINITELY don't fuckin' whistle!"

"Yeah, well, he did and he DOES." Charlie said, trying to keep a straight face.

"I'll believe it when I see it." Letty said. "Where is he, anyway?"

"Said something about looking at shops around the city." Charlie shrugged. "Been gone a couple hours."

"They say when they'd be back?"

"Nope, but they said they'd bring back food when they did." Charlie said as she set about cleaning an already spotless kitchen. "So…"

"So what?" Letty asked back.

"I heard about you an' Dom…" Charlie said, not turning to face her friend. "How you nearly broke up after I left…"

"That was a long time ago, Char…" Letty said. "Things weren't lookin' good."

"It was bad enough that Dom thought you were gonna leave him ad go shack up with Mark Aldrich?"

"Who the hell told you about that?" Letty demanded, suddenly highly defensive.

"You'd be amazed how talkative Vince can get when you give him free food."

"Yeah, well, we both know that Vince doesn't know when to shuddup any more than Dominic does." Letty snorted. "Besides, I wasn't gonna do nothin' with the guy."

"Then why'd Dom seem to think you had every intention of sleeping with the most eligible bachelor in our ZIP code?"

"Because Dom's always been a paranoid mothertrucker." Letty said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Charlie couldn't help laughing.

"Don't seem that way now." Charlie said. "Seems pretty damn sure of himself an' where the two of you stand with each other, actually."

"Tha's because I got a goddamn rock on my hand!" Letty said. "I mean, yeah, he asked before but he was always trashed when he did it." She shrugged.

"So what, you're engaged or whatever an' now he ain't gonna be a bossy-as-hell motherfucker?"

"Is Vince?" Letty asked, eyes narrowing.

"I ain't fuckin' engaged t' Vince!" Charlie retorted. "That ain't the point!"

"That's EXACTLY the point! It don't matter what me an' Dom are or aren't. I'm his girl, end of story. "

"You realize you just described yourself as a piece of meat, right?" Charlie asked, trying not to laugh.


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter Twenty Four**

In Los Angeles, Mia found herself with a very tempting offer.

A few days earlier, Hector had come into the grocery store with an offer.

He and some of his race team would take over the garage so that the Torettos could continue making money off of it.

"Mia, your brother TOLD me to do this." Hector said, looking the girl over from where they now sat in the back of _El Gato Negro_.

"Why would he do that and NOT tell me?" Mia asked. The offer hector was making seemed a little too good to be true.

"Man's been busy with _la esposa_ and the baby an' shit." Hector shrugged.

"Shocked he even thought of this… he's been like, _Mia who?_ since _**Charlie**_ came back." She spat, scowling at Hector.

"You never did like _La Doctora_, didja chica?" Hector smirked. "Couldn't stand that Letty talked to Charlie more than she did to you…"

"Shuddup, Carrizales."

"Is that why you're still here when the rest'a Team Toretto's all'a way in New York City?" Mia rolled her eyes.

"So what if it is?" Mia sneered. Not like they needed another doctor when they have their precious Charlie to take care of them. "They don't need me…they got their own lives now, man…"

"You're Toretto's sister, kid…family's family. **Especially** with Dominic."

He kissed her softly, running his hands through her hair.

Leon was falling hard for Chelsea, and he was falling fast.

They'd been together a thousand times before but he'd never noticed how beautiful the girl in his bed truly was.

"You're beautiful…" Leon murmured, stroking her cheek with his thumb.

She blushed slightly as he leaned in to kiss her again.

"I was thinkin' about going back t' Angel City…" Leon murmured against her lips.

"To take care of the sister…?" she asked softly.

"That…an' t'pack my shit…" he said. "Was thinkin' I might head t'New York…ain't much point staying here all by ourselves." He shrugged.

"And what…you want me to come with you or something? Help box shit?"

He shrugged again.

"Was thinkin' I might take you with me…wherever I wind up goin'…"

"What, and let Letty have another run at killing me?" She laughed.

"I don't think she's doin' much skank killing now that she's got that ring on her finger." Leon said, laughing. "Not that you're a skank or nothin'." Leon stammered.

"You know, you're kinda cute when you stutter like that…" Chelsea teased, running her fingers through his hair.

"Yeah? 'Cause the guys 're always givin' me shit for not bein' able t'talk to the chicks I really dig…"

Chelsea laughed and kissed him again.

"Well **I** think it's kinda sexy." She whispered, nibbling at his ear.

"I think _you're_ pretty goddamn sexy yourself." Leon growled back

"I never thought I'd see the day you and Letty actually settled down." Vince laughed as he and Dom walked down the streets of New York.

"I'm telling you, V. Shit changed when I saw that baby on th'screen…" Dom said. "Feels weird, brotha…not havin' my pops around for this."

"Ya got me an' y'r sister…hell even th'Doc t'keep you an' Letty in line, bro…"

"But what if we _can't_? What if we turn out bein' those parents who can't control their kid? It'd be fucking embarrassing, man!"

"Brotha, you an' Mia had better folks growin' up than I did."

"What's y'r point?"

"I'm pretty damn sure if anyone's gonna fuck up their kid, it's gonna be me." Vince said, laughing.


End file.
